She stared at the red stone. It had seemed dull a few minutes ago, but suddenly it seemed to sparkle. Frigid air, like a winter wind, struck Jennifer’s face as she stared, entranced, at the ring. It seemed to be getting dark all around her, and someone was whistling….
From the moment Jennifer finds the garnet ring in a battered wooden box, it is clear that it isn’t an ordinary piece of jewelry. The twinkling facets take Jennifer back in time, letting her observe her great-grandmother, Marion, whose family just gets by on a farm in Charleston, Maine, until calamity strikes. The rings gets Jennifer in trouble, too.
Through the magic of her great-grandmother’s ring, Jennifer Stetson is drawn—as readers will be—into the world of Marion Mitchell and her family in late 1800s rural Maine. Engaging, warm, and at times heart-wrenching, In a Twinkling brings to life the challenges of girlhood then and now, and the importance of discovering what lasts.
—Lynne Barrett, author of Magpies
Young readers say:
I loved your book, “In a Twinkling.” I could not put it down! The thing I liked about the book is her seeing her great grandmother. … I really, really want you to write another book like “In a Twinkling.”
Bernadette F., Kansas
For my book, I read “In a Twinkling” by Nancy Remsen. This book was published by Maine Authors Publishing. In this book, Jennifer is the main character. She finds a ring that lets her see the life of her great-grandmother. I like it because you can see the life of the people a long time ago, like at Christmas. There are sad parts too, but I will not
give that away. I like the magical ring. I think you should try this book if you like magical stories about a long time ago.Kaylie D., Maine
Nancy S. Remsen had a forty-year writing career in Maine and Vermont, producing news, not novels, until she retired. Much of what happens to the historical character in her first book for young readers is based on stories her grandmother recounted about her childhood in the 1880s and ’90s in eastern Maine.