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Button Box
A young girl finds herself living in two different worlds – the present and a dangerous Victorian past.
When Susan’s dad wants to marry again, she is thrown into a whole new family where she feels excluded. Playing with her much loved old button box for comfort, she discovers a passage to a different time – the busy turmoil of 1850s London. Here, she lives with Baxter, a canny orphan boy who has adopted her as his sister.
With Baxter, Susan is never lonely, but children like them must work and do almost anything to get by. Surviving as best they can on the criminal margins of a colourful city, they are soon drawn into dangerous activities.
Baxter and Susan plunge together into wild adventures in a tangled Victorian underworld. They meet extraordinary people from all walks of life – costermongers, thieves and fences, acrobats and street children, eccentric scientists, a rich explorer, nightmarish villains, and even Queen Victoria herself.
A lively and gripping story full of suspense and atmosphere, ‘Button Box’ will take you into another world!
When Susan’s dad wants to marry again, she is thrown into a whole new family where she feels excluded. Playing with her much loved old button box for comfort, she discovers a passage to a different time – the busy turmoil of 1850s London. Here, she lives with Baxter, a canny orphan boy who has adopted her as his sister.
With Baxter, Susan is never lonely, but children like them must work and do almost anything to get by. Surviving as best they can on the criminal margins of a colourful city, they are soon drawn into dangerous activities.
Baxter and Susan plunge together into wild adventures in a tangled Victorian underworld. They meet extraordinary people from all walks of life – costermongers, thieves and fences, acrobats and street children, eccentric scientists, a rich explorer, nightmarish villains, and even Queen Victoria herself.
A lively and gripping story full of suspense and atmosphere, ‘Button Box’ will take you into another world!
358 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 31, 2024
This evoked so many memories for me, I remember sitting there for hours as a child with my own Mother's button box and using the powers of my imagination to create stories.
I absolutely loved this book, it was such an enjoyable, delightful story.
Beautifully written, history well researched and a unique take on time travelling.
Susan was such a lonely little soul and I loved how she came alive when she was with Baxter. They certainly went on some great adventures throughout the book.
From the gorgeous cover to the delightful story submerged within its pages Button Box was a magical time travelling adventure unlike any other and was highly entertaining.
Many thanks to Zooloo's Book Tours for my tour spot.
Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I absolutely loved this book, it was such an enjoyable, delightful story.
Beautifully written, history well researched and a unique take on time travelling.
Susan was such a lonely little soul and I loved how she came alive when she was with Baxter. They certainly went on some great adventures throughout the book.
From the gorgeous cover to the delightful story submerged within its pages Button Box was a magical time travelling adventure unlike any other and was highly entertaining.
Many thanks to Zooloo's Book Tours for my tour spot.
Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐
September 1, 2024
Button Box is such a cute and magical story. I loved the timeslip element of it and the adventure. The Victorian setting was perfect. It felt a little bit like Oliver Twist but with a lot more adventure. I do have to say I prefer the past setting to the present but I think this is in part due to the parents and step sisters or Susan. We do have a lot of ‘evil step sister’ vibes going on with them and I did feel the father was rather useless with helping Susan but I digress.
This was a really fun read. The plot was equally easy to follow and complex at the same time. The characters were all rather complex, at least in the Victorian time, and well developed. There was also a nice cross section of society at the time from explorers to thieves and so much more. It is clear, I think anyway, that Enright researched and knows their stuff when it comes to Victorian England.
If you are interested in history and time travel/time slip novels this will be a fun and rather cosy read despite the adventure! An easy 5 again.
As always thank you to ZooLoos Book Tours for the copy to review. My review is always honest and truthful.
This was a really fun read. The plot was equally easy to follow and complex at the same time. The characters were all rather complex, at least in the Victorian time, and well developed. There was also a nice cross section of society at the time from explorers to thieves and so much more. It is clear, I think anyway, that Enright researched and knows their stuff when it comes to Victorian England.
If you are interested in history and time travel/time slip novels this will be a fun and rather cosy read despite the adventure! An easy 5 again.
As always thank you to ZooLoos Book Tours for the copy to review. My review is always honest and truthful.
January 5, 2023
Button Box by Ruth Enright has been awarded a Chill with a Book Readers' PREMIER Award
www.chillwithabook.com
www.chillwithabook.com
September 4, 2022
The premise for BUTTON BOX sounded so intriguing. A young girl finds a portal into Victorian London from the loneliness and mundanity of her everyday life in the modern world. There she comes up against all sorts of things that she would never have been privy to nor known about otherwise.
Susan's father has decided to remarry and the new mother's three daughters were to be likely new friends as well as stepsisters for her. Or that's what her father and new mother anticipated. In actual fact, the three girls were like the horrible ugly stepsisters from "Cinderella", taunting and teasing and bullying young Susan into a life of loneliness. And one that her father either seemed oblivious to or didn't care in light of his new-found love and their change in circumstances. The three girls come across as entitled and bitchy, as if they are better than Susan. And so she locks herself away in her bedroom with just her button box of treasures for company.
And just like that, Susan steps into another world a hundred and fifty years past at a time when Queen Victoria reigned, and life on the streets for young orphans was tough. Which is what Susan was in Victorian London - an orphaned. But befriended by Baxter, he teaches her the ways of the streets and together they get up to all sorts and she soon finds that she prefers this old world alongside Baxter enduring hardship than that of her modern world in a family that doesn't really want her.
The concept was intriguing, as was the premise, but the story I found to be lack lustre and a little boring. Maybe I gave up too soon but I just couldn't like the book no matter how much I wanted to...and I really wanted to. The fact that it is written for children to young adults makes the timeslips a little confusing as it jumps from modern day to Victorian with something of a bump or two rather than the seamless transition I would expect. Younger minds may find this confusing.
I'm disappointed that I didn't enjoy BUTTON BOX because it featured a time I love to read about - Victorian times - that this part felt a little like Lindsey Hutchinson but there the similarities ended. Maybe I was in the wrong mindset - as is sometimes the case. So maybe I will pick it up at a later date and try again because I do believe it has the potential to be a fascinating tale.
I would like to thank #RuthEnright and #BlossomSpringPublishing for an ARC of #ButtonBox in exchange for an honest review.
Susan's father has decided to remarry and the new mother's three daughters were to be likely new friends as well as stepsisters for her. Or that's what her father and new mother anticipated. In actual fact, the three girls were like the horrible ugly stepsisters from "Cinderella", taunting and teasing and bullying young Susan into a life of loneliness. And one that her father either seemed oblivious to or didn't care in light of his new-found love and their change in circumstances. The three girls come across as entitled and bitchy, as if they are better than Susan. And so she locks herself away in her bedroom with just her button box of treasures for company.
And just like that, Susan steps into another world a hundred and fifty years past at a time when Queen Victoria reigned, and life on the streets for young orphans was tough. Which is what Susan was in Victorian London - an orphaned. But befriended by Baxter, he teaches her the ways of the streets and together they get up to all sorts and she soon finds that she prefers this old world alongside Baxter enduring hardship than that of her modern world in a family that doesn't really want her.
The concept was intriguing, as was the premise, but the story I found to be lack lustre and a little boring. Maybe I gave up too soon but I just couldn't like the book no matter how much I wanted to...and I really wanted to. The fact that it is written for children to young adults makes the timeslips a little confusing as it jumps from modern day to Victorian with something of a bump or two rather than the seamless transition I would expect. Younger minds may find this confusing.
I'm disappointed that I didn't enjoy BUTTON BOX because it featured a time I love to read about - Victorian times - that this part felt a little like Lindsey Hutchinson but there the similarities ended. Maybe I was in the wrong mindset - as is sometimes the case. So maybe I will pick it up at a later date and try again because I do believe it has the potential to be a fascinating tale.
I would like to thank #RuthEnright and #BlossomSpringPublishing for an ARC of #ButtonBox in exchange for an honest review.
September 5, 2022
This was a really unique and sweet story. A young girl is part of two worlds, her present life and one of a different time in the past.
As I enjoy history and the idea of time travel and seeing how different people lived, this one really appealed to me, and I think anyone with an interest in history will enjoy this one as well.
It's a well written novel and I think the author has put a great deal of research into this.
I like how much thought and care was put into the characters and the settings featured too.
It was a enjoyable read for me 😊
As I enjoy history and the idea of time travel and seeing how different people lived, this one really appealed to me, and I think anyone with an interest in history will enjoy this one as well.
It's a well written novel and I think the author has put a great deal of research into this.
I like how much thought and care was put into the characters and the settings featured too.
It was a enjoyable read for me 😊
December 4, 2022
The Button Box by Ruth Enright is a different kind of Young Adult Fantasy novel. The way I read it was more a primer on Victorian England. Those are the sections that really come alive in this novel. Susan is a young girl who is quite unhappy that her father is remarrying, especially since her new siblings are less than nice to her. She has an old button box that she likes to play with. Little does she know that it actually gives her access to 1850s London. There, she becomes the de facto sister of Baxter, a street urchin straight out of a Charles Dickens novel. For me, the segments where Susan is in London with Baxter were much more alive than those in her modern life. It sort of felt like, yeah, she’s getting a bad deal out of her dad’s remarriage and her siblings are awful. There is not a lot of new ground to be broken here. But in London with Baxter, there is a world of characters and experiences that let Susan escape her “regular” life. The world that the author creates here is encompassing and engaging. I felt like the author preferred to stay in that era, as more of the book occurs there. Susan’s current home life is simply a vehicle to get her to the past. I suppose the book could have been written set solely in London. But then I would have been missing the time travel aspect, which does lend a bit of “coolness.” The Button Box is a very clever fantasy/fiction novel. Ruth Enright has presented Victorian London (in all its good and bad) in a way that will enchant young readers.
September 5, 2022
Button box by Ruth Enright.
Susan's dad wants to marry again. She is thrown into a whole new family where she feels excluded. But playing with her much loved old button box for comfort she discovers a passage to a different time. .
Loved it. Unique. I loved the cover. 5*.
Susan's dad wants to marry again. She is thrown into a whole new family where she feels excluded. But playing with her much loved old button box for comfort she discovers a passage to a different time. .
Loved it. Unique. I loved the cover. 5*.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews