Reviewed July 8, 2002.
Aladdin Paperbacks, 1996.  First published in 1976.  A Newbery Honor Book.  370 pages.

Thanks to my friend Shannon for recommending this book.  This book was slow-moving, but once I got into it, I found it a warm and enjoyable experience.  After Jen’s Mom’s death, her family has moved to Wales for a year.  Jen has been in high school in America, but she comes to visit her family during Christmas break.  She finds her younger brother Peter bitter and angry about being in Wales.

Everything changes when Peter finds a harp key that turns out to belong to the ancient bard Taliesin.  Time shifts and Peter watches Taliesin’s story unfold.  Jen doesn’t know whether to believe him or not.  Then the time-shifts begin to affect the world of the present.  Peter must decide what to do with the harp key, and their family must learn how to be a family again.