Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

Title: Ruby Red
By: Kerstin Gier
Published: 2011
Call #: YA Fiction Gier.K

 If history, the supernatural or even science intrigues you, Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier will stir both your imagination and your intellect.

Gwyneth is a modern teenager and a native of London, a city in which the past is never far away. Her family has a unique genetic legacy. A select few members of the family are born with a gene which predisposes them to be time travellers. The gene occurs in family members with predetermined birthdates, as calculated by none other than Sir Isaac Newton.

Gwyneth and her cousin, Charlotte, are born on the same date. Gwyneth’s mother falsifies her birthdate because she does not want her daughter to become a time traveller, fearing the powerful, and possibly evil people Gwyneth may encounter in this and past times.

But destiny will not be denied and Gwyneth makes a surprising, if brief, trip to another time, followed quickly by two more  trips. Gwyneth phones her mother at work to tell her about these surprising events. Her mother takes her to the headquarters of the power elite behind time travellers, telling them, “I’m bringing you the Ruby.”  Each time traveller is assigned a personal gem stone, and Gwyneth’s is the ruby.

Following Gwyneth’s adventures, you will encounter a time machine decorated with jewels and lubricated by human blood; a young athlete who becomes a dashing swordsman on his time travels; an evil count who can control his victims’ thoughts and ancient and modern ghosts whom only Gwyneth can see and talk to.

Best of all is going along with Gwyneth as she progresses from happy-go-lucky but sloppy schoolgirl, who drops mashed potatoes on her uniform, to the “swan-necked beauty” who wears the beautiful gowns of ancient times, but develops a mind and character to meet the challenges of her time travelling journeys.

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