Jeremiah Bourne is in greater danger than he realises.

In modern-day London, Jeremiah lives with his stepdad in a crumbling house in Blackfriars. While working on the building's restoration, he finds an old biscuit tin among a pile of forgotten items in the basement. When he opens the lid, he is immediately propelled back in history: he's still at home, but suddenly it's 1910.

How did he get here, and how can he get back to his own time? On his quest for answers, he encounters a coven of free-thinking spiritualists, warring street gangs, mad scientists, incredibly aggressive domestic servants and a nudist magistrate. He accidentally rescues Daisy Wallace, a resident of the home for so-called 'Fallen Girls', landing him with responsibilities he'd rather not have.

But his activities have alerted a community of time-travellers from the future who set out to capture and investigate him. Who can Jeremiah trust to help him? And could there be a link between his time-travelling gift and his mother's sudden disappearance when he was only nine? Will he inadvertently lead the wrong people to her?

This electrifying first instalment of Nigel Planer's Time Shard Chronicles trilogy will catapult you into a thrilling journey across London and through time.

First published: Thursday 6th July 2023