The Sterkarm Handshake

"It’s an amazing hybrid and when I read it, it blew my mind. It’s a time-slip sci-fi novel; it is historical fiction in that the parts that are set in the 16th century feel absolutely real and I believe that they are very well researched. The detail, from the dialect they speak to the politics of Scottish border clans of the period, all feel very authentic. The science fiction comes from the 21st century scientists who are using time travel to plunder that past, there are plans to mine vital minerals from the lands of the past and even to run a kind of historic tourism business. I love the way Susan Price has imagined the time travel – she set it in a bland office block, so the whole thing is hilariously underwhelming. You can imagine dull plastic strips hanging in front of the time-tunnel. It really made me laugh. When these scientists travel in time they are travelling in one dimension away from our own time and the way Susan Price handles describing this is subtle and effective. “It’s important, particularly at the moment with the rise of fake news, for us all to understand how historical fact can be manipulated by anyone with an agenda” The Sterkarms are a 16th century Scottish clan. If you imagine clan gangsters you’ll be getting close. Like the Peaky Blinders of the Scottish borders. They are currently in a turf war between other rival families. The 21st Century scientists have a distinctly colonial attitude to the apparently primitive clan folk and as a result they dangerously underestimate them. One of the 21st century researchers is living with the Sterkarms – Andrea Mitchell – and we see the 16th century very much through her eyes. One of the reasons I chose this book as an interesting book for young adults is that, like Here Lies Arthur , it isn’t straight-forward historic fiction. Normally in historical fiction the person who is on the outside, who is in the 21st century, is you the reader. Whereas in this book, we see the past through another set of 21st century eyes, Andrea’s eyes and through her responses to events whilst she is among them. You really get the sense that the past is a different culture. Susan Price really captures that sense of the past feeling a truly alien place – can we ever truly understand these ancient people? It’s a subtle added dimension but it works very effectively. It’s also an extremely pacy read – you will be up till the early hours finishing this book. It isn’t a book that is easy to put down once you’ve got started."