I just couldn't get into this book. I saw the end of the story almost before the book began. Maybe if I had been in a different mood I would have liked this book. ( )

Unapologetic prostitute Charlotte, who makes her living in nineteenth century Copenhagen, discovers a time machine in her employer’s cellar and is catapulted into modern-day New York. There she meets an odd band of fellow ex-pats and also the love of her life. Alas, time travel is a tricksy thing…Told in a pert, unabashed style that I adored, this is a slightly romantic romp through time and space. ( )

Fun! This historical time-travel novel is fun and funny and sweet and bawdy, and I loved it. It tells the story of a prostitute in 19th c. Copenhagen who cons her way into a position as a maid at a fine house where there are mysterious goings-on. Turns out, there is a time machine in the basement, and our plucky heroine eventually finds herself in modern day London. All sorts of antics ensue, but what makes this novel work so incredibly well is the voice of Charlotte, the prostitute. Despite the ridiculousness, I really did care for her and what happened to her. Pure entertainment - but smart and funny at the same time. ( )

bookshelves: published-2006, paper-read, under-500-ratings, spring-2014, one-penny-wonder, fantasy, time-slip, love, too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts, denmark, copenhagen, amusing, next
Read from March 08 to 11, 2014

Description: In fin-de-siecle Copenhagen, part-time prostitute Charlotte and her lumpen sidekick, Fru Schleswig, have taken on jobs as cleaning ladies of dubious talent to tide them over the harsh winter of 1897. But the home of their neurotic new employer, the widow Krak, soon reveals itself to be riddled with dark secrets - including the existence of a demonic machine rumoured to swallow people alive. Rudely catapulted into twenty-first-century London, the hapless duo discover a whole new world of glass, labour-saving devices and hectic, impossible romance.

Many blurbs for this book, however this one is on the cover...

'Unashamedley gleeful: a kind of topsy-turvy Jane Eyre with added time travel... Sit back, suspend your disbelief and enjoy' Daily Mail

Dedication: For Matti, Raphaël and Laura

Opening: Last night I deamed I went to Østerbro again, flying towards my little quadrant of Copenhagen streets just as a fairy might, or a homing bird.

The beginning opens out in 1897 and our narrator is a street girl totally broke because her two main clients have abandoned her. The one to jail for fraud, and the other a bad oyster rendered him a metre under.

Too slapstick for my taste, although I am amazed at the scope that Liz Jemsen picks to wrie about.

4* The Rapture
4* The Uninvited
TR Ark Baby
2* My Dirty Little Book of Stolen Time
5* The Ninth Life of Louis Drax

Trivia: Liz Jensen is married to author Carsten Jensen:

5* We, The Drowned
3* I Have Seen the World Begin

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From the Club Rules: Members must especially beware of Danes from modern Denmark. Should one be encountered by chance, who turns inquisitive, suggest that you represent the Danish tax authorities.

Charlotte, a prostitute from 1897 Copenhagen, is short of funds after the death of one of her regulars and the jailing of another. A chance encounter in a baker's shop leads to Charlotte and her older companion Fru Schleswig, taking a job cleaning the mansion belonging to Fru Krak, but she isn't prepared for what she finds when she ventures into the basement where Fru Krak's vanished husband is rumoured to have built an infernal machine.

Amusing time travel comedy. Highly recommended. ( )