The Ghosts

by Antonia Barber

Release: 1969
Format: Novel
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Families
Content: Definite Time Travel
Original Language: English

In the 1960s, a solicitor—Mr. Blunden—arranges for a widow and her children to move to an English house while the rightful heir is tracked down. The two children, Lucy and Jamie, soon meet two orphans, Sara and Georgie, who are living in the house—with their own version Mr. Blunden—exactly one century before! The orphans need help, so with the aid of a magic potion, Lucy and Jamie go back in time to the very day before the orphans will die in a fire (according to the gravestone that Lucy and Jamie found). They definitely have a fix-the-past mission, and they definitely succeed, but in the process, an amazing twist on the grandfather paradox arises (see the spoiler below).

The story has a kind of reverse grandfather paradox: [spoiler Lucy and Jamie’s great-great-grandparents are Sara and Tom (a boy who died trying to save Sara and George). So, initially, Lucy and Jamie actually have no grandparents (at least not on that side), and it’s only by Lucy and Jamie going back in time to save Sara and George (as well as Tom) that Sara and Tom live long enough to have offspring. So where did Lucy and Jamie come from initially in order to be able to go back in time and create the conditions so that they will be born? This is almost a single nonbranching, static timeline, except for the fact that initially, Sara, Georgie, and Tom did die (as evinced by what Lucy and Jamie see and hear in the graveyar), so Lucy and Jamie did change things. I think we need a new name for it, perhaps the grandchild paradox.[/spoiler]

— Michael Main

Lucy found it very confusing. “I don’t think I really understand this Wheel of Time business even now,” she said.

“Oh, I don’t understand it,” said Jamie cheerfully, “but then I don’t understand television either. But when you’ve seen it working, you can’t help believing in it.”

DEBUT

The Ghosts (Jonathan Cape, 1969).

VARIANTS

2 English variants

DERIVATIVE WORKS

The Amazing Mr. Blunden written and directed by Lionel Jeffries, (at movie theaters, UK, 30 November 1972).

TAGS(SPOILERS!)

Time Periods

Circa AD 1800 to 1899: Home time of Sara and George.
Circa AD 1960 to 1969: Home time of Lucy and Jamie.

Time Travel Methods

Hypnosis, Potions, and Drug-Induced Travel: A recipe to move the “Wheel of Time“.
Magic Time Travel: The magic recipe and possibly Mr. Blunden’s spirit traveling one way or the other.

Themes

Fix History!: Save Sara and George!.
Grandchild Paradox: Lucy and Jamie rescue their ancestor before she procreates..

Fictional Tags

Ghosts: Mr. Blunden (but not any of the children).

TIME TRAVEL ITINERARY (SPOILERS!)

From Langley Park, England, 1860s ⋙ to Langley Park, England, 1960s. Round trip. Note: Sara and George’s initial trip.
From Langley Park, England, 1860s ⋙ to Langley Park, England, 1960s. Round trip. Note: Sara returns on her own.
From Langley Park, England, 1960s ⋙ to Langley Park, England, 1860s. Round trip. Note: Lucy and Jamie travel back.
From Langley Park, England, 1960s ⋙ to Langley Park, England, 1860s. Note: Mr. Blunden’s ghost might have also traveled back at least once, because in the 1960s he tells them that he will help them in the past when needed. He may have had other travels as well.