The 48

Did you ever imagine combining time travel with the court of the Tudors, with Henry the Eighth in all his wife-changing glory?  Donna Hosie did and has done it with The 48.  Alex and his twin brother, Charlie, are learning the trade of the 48 which means that they go back in time to alter the course of history to do away with religion, thought to be the reason for all the world’s troubles.  They meet Anne Boleyn and try to change the course of Jane Seymour’s life after childbirth.  But, what they come to learn is that people must have choices and make their own decisions.

The Tudor period was gruesome and readers are exposed to the smells of the sewer that is the Thames river, can almost feel the torture that both brothers endure on nearly every page, and will have trouble imagining how anyone lived on the maggot-filled food that was available.  It is a graphic portrayal of the period physically and emotionally as readers learn of the callous disregard in which women are held through the sections described by Margaret, a lady’s maid to Queen Anne.

There is no mention of the ramifications any decision would have made in history and Charlie and Alex seem to spend all their time being beaten, tortured, starved, and never appear as strong main characters.  What was the point when, at the end, nothing was changed in history?

This book is recommended for grades 9-12.

Reviewed by Ellen Spring, Oceanside High School, Rockland