Prisoner of Time (by Caroline B. Cooney)

This time Annie's brother Tod becomes the time traveler, and welcome comic relief, in this continuation of the Stratton family fantasy. Tod finds himself falling back in time to meet the lovely Devonny, Strat's sister. Her father is forcing her to marry the shallow Lord Hugh-David Winden. She begs Tod to save her. Tod decides he should try, fades into Devonny's wedding, and snatches her away to the present as she's walking down the aisle.

Meanwhile, Devonny's friend Flossie has fallen in love with an Italian stonecutter and elopes. But her parents know of her plans and have the boy kidnapped and imprisoned on a ship going back to Italy. At first embarrassed, then feeling guilty, Lord Winden helps find Flossie and her fiancé. But Mr. Stratton imprisons Devonny's mother in his attic, intending her to live there for decades. Can Tod and Devonny save her?

Another time traveling teenager, and more romance, gothic imprisonments, kidnappings, and greed continue the Stratton family story. But this time Caroline Cooney has some fun with it. She provides comic relief by using Annie's younger brother as the link between the present and the past. The story still relies on gothic elements. Devonny's father compels her to marry a greedy English lord for his title. When he shuts up her mother in the attic, we can almost see him chuckling and grinning and twirling the end of his mustache as the standard Victorian villain.

However, a few of the characters grow a bit. Lord Winden realizes he's behaved less than honorably, and prods himself into standing up to his gorgon-like mother. Devonny changes her attitude toward Lord Winden. The book certainly will continue to appeal to those who enjoyed the two earlier books in the series, Both Sides of Time and Out of Time. Its history will interest many romantically inclined readers. No one could call it literature, but many kids will read it, love it, and learn from it. That's not too bad.

Author: Caroline B. Cooney
Publication date: January 1, 1998
Number of pages: 200
Paperback price: $4.99