I'm sorry. I don't remember requesting this book. I will see if I still have it and dive right in.

I was unable to finish reading the title as it just wasn't pulling me into the story in quick order. The premise seemed interesting, but the execution just left something to be desired by me.

I love time travel novels, I love Colonial America and the Revolutionary War period, especially in fictional novels. I just did not love this book.

Being an elementary school librarian from Richmond, VA,, I looked forward to reading this with an eye to adding this to my library. I appreciated the author's research and understanding of the colonial time period and the Williamsburg setting, but I can not give high marks to the concept of the book. If the basic rule of successful writing is "show, don't tell," this story fails miserably. Every scene was a lecture on the causes of the Revolutionary War. Even for someone like myself who has an interest In this period and familiarity with the locale, I found myself crying out, "Enough already!" Even adding the element of time travel didn't add much to the telling because there was little drama in the way the process unfolded. Every character spoke with the same voice ( except for an embarrassing and clumsy attempt at slave dialogue.) All in all, this book,should have been reworked as a straight history or edited with an eye to making it more entertaining.

I received this ARC from netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

I couldn't get into this book. For me, the story was jumbled and all over the place.

Abandoned at 25%. No rating.

I love time travel books, and knew I would love this one too, but this one had some twists that made me even happier. Not only did I get to learn things about the time but I really grew to know the people as real people. I hated to leave them behind when the story ended.

This was a very interesting book about the Sinclair family who is able to travel back in time to 1775 and 1776 Colonial Williamsburg. Because I’ve visited the historic park a few times, I could appreciate the place names and common stories of the time period.  I greatly enjoyed this book.  Each of the four family members connected with a character from the past and hoped to make a positive difference, without changing history.  The author had done a great deal of homework in getting to some little known stories to bring to life.

In Williamsburg, A Family Travels Back to 1775

The Sinclair family is on a vacation in Williamsburg, Virginia. They’re eager to explore the colonial town. The family begins their stay with a tour and meet reenacters at each location. The reenacters explain their roles and give a bit of history.

Suddenly the family finds themselves transported back in time to 1775. Each member of the family goes his or her own way meeting freed slaves, Indians, military leaders, and healers. In each case, the family member becomes an integral part of the action, actually influencing history. The people they meet are wise bringing an understanding of daily lives in the revolutionary period. The children learn about what was actually happening as the country prepared for war. The parents bring their skills to bear to heal themselves and help others.

The book is well researched and gives an in-depth picture of Williamsburg in colonial times. I enjoyed learning about each individual. I’ve read a lot of history, so this wasn’t new, but if you’d rather read a story than a history book, you’ll enjoy learning this way.

I was disappointed in the depth of the characters and particularly the dialog. A great many of the interchanges, particularly in the beginning of the book, were data dumps. I understand that the author was trying to teach as well as tell a story, but it did not enhance the atmosphere. The time travel seemed almost too facile. It’s a good device, but very much on the surface with no explanation of how it happened.

If you’re interested in the revolutionary period, I recommend this book. You’ll learn a lot of history. The documents from George Washington at the end are well worth reading.

I received this book from Net Galley for this review.

It took me a while to get through this chunky monkey of a book but that was not caused because I didn't enjoy it. Quite the opposite actually. For starters I am a sucker for the whole "time traveling" thing so that gives the story an immediate advantage for me. It is very imaginable for me that not everyone will enjoy this story equally because it doesn't shine on all fronts.

You follow the Sinclair family on their historical trip to colonial Williamsburg, one of the key towns in the American revolution. Being Dutch myself this town rang a bell somewhere but that was as far as my knowledge went. During the Sinclair's visit to this open-air style museum times start to blur and they slowly find themselves in the late 18th century. They are going to live through a part of history. How about that for a trip? Sadly this isn't on offer

This is the main selling point for me. Because this town actually exists there is some sort of relevance or reality to the story that makes it very compelling. The story itself isn't that exciting all the time but that was easily overcome by the atmosphere it breaths. Personally I don't know too much about the revolution and many of the locations, people, and event stated are hard for me to follow. I can imagine this story is more enjoyable for people who do know more about or even visited the mentioned locations.

Fact, fiction, fantasy and fairytale. Colonial Williamsburg, been there, was not impressed, but that’s me. This story centers around that community and a visiting family of four, mother, father, son and daughter. Somehow the family has crossed the timeline and find themselves in the days leading up to war, as the Colonies seek to end the oppressive rule of the English. They meet and mingle with the locals, including slaves, Indians and people of future fame as in leaders of the American Revolutionary war. While the bits of history are of note and interest it requires more imagination than this reader must have to find this concept acceptable enough to maintain interest. None the less, pushing to the end of the story, when the family tries to return to the time to reunite with their former acquaintances they are of course unable to meet up with those same folks. They do however manage to summon the spirits of the now deceased and converse with those spirits to “catch up on old times.” Just too much over the top for this reader.

Reading this book, I had mixed feelings. I loved the idea of ​​taking a present-day and normal (or nearly normal) American family and send it through an involuntary time travel, to explore the real reasons behind the American Revolution, beyond proclamations and official history books. It left me a bit doubtful the immediate mingle and make friends of this tourists from the future with the 'locals' of any order and degree: if the today myself comes back to the places where my family lived 200 years ago, I wouldn't know if she would be so well received and listened to, or even if she could understand the language, to say nothing of having peer relationships with any social stratum. It left me even more doubtful the recourse, from a certain point onwards, to a purely esoteric element, even with the intervention of a ghost, character that from my perspective could have been avoided.
In any case, an interesting book I read with discreet pleasure.
Thank Fairhaven Lantern and Netgalley for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

wow! what a fasinating story. Love Ameican history and my favorite place is Williamsburg. I could picture everything so clearly as if I too were involved. Great, everything about it. Fabulous concept.

Gate in the Fence of Time is the well written story of what happens when a modern day family takes a vacation to Colonial Williamsburg. No matter what their expectations, they never imagined they would travel back in time to the year 1775. This book is the perfect blend of thoroughly researched history, the present and time travel. Highly recommended!!!

On the one hand we have an extremely throughly researched look at the origins and progress of the American Revolution including wonderful details of daily life from clothing, food, household, sleeping and sanitary arrangements to the status and nature of indentured servitude and slavery as practiced at that time. On the other hand there is a modern family which finds itself slipping back and forth across the time stream playing with paradoxes. After a somewhat bumpy start the storylines progress rapidly, fully entwining toward the end, presenting a fascinating viewpoint on a troubled time in our history with much more attention to the complex politics and shenanigans among the policymakers ("follow the money!") than is usually afforded. Despite the serious nature of the material the story flowed swiftly, exploring disparate elements of colonial life, a realistic depiction of war and an interesting juxtaposition of the various classes of people combined with the sounds and smells of yesteryear. And as a background to the narrative, modern Williamsburg reveals itself as a national treasure providing a peek into our turbulent past.

I was a college history major so when I saw this book on Netgalley I was curious. I'm quite happy I followed my whim!

It just couldn't keep my interest. I need a book that grabs me quickly. and makes me want to invest my time.

The Sinclair family are visiting Williamsburg to get a taste of the history of the colonial times. They find more than they expected. They learn what the revolution was really about and about the lives of slaves and indentured servants. A different look at history.

As a fan of time travel, alternative history, and history, I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, I could not finish it. I found the writing to be subpar. For example, typical dialogue was: "The father said..., then mother said....., then big brother said...., then little sister said.......". The going back into time was handled sloppily and disjointed. Furthermore, it seemed the whole plot existed not as a story, but as a chance for one family to educate themselves on the past. I was disappointed.