Kit loves her infuriating, incredibly curious, always busy little sister, Libby. So when Kit wakes to see Libby sneaking out of the house just before midnight, she knows she must follow her. But she’s not quite close enough to stop Libby rushing up the stairs of a tower in the darkness. Libby falls… into nothing. She has vanished.

Frightened for Libby and even more scared when their mum denies Libby ever existed, Kit doesn’t know where to turn. But someone else was there that night and he saw what happened.

This someone is a boy called Story. He has his own secrets, but he is keen to help Kit find her little sister.

It’s not the only strange thing happening in their small seaside holiday town. Kit keeps seeing a strange woman along the beach and in town. Why does she look at Kit so intensely? Does she know something about Libby’s disappearance?

Kit, Story and the stranger are quickly caught up in an ancient and dangerous ritual, whether they like it or not. The woman is one of The Twelve – beings who look after the timeline and our world.

Something is pushing it to its limits and Kit and Story are not only the only ones who can fix it, but have a very limited time to do it, all while looking for Libby who is somewhere in the timeline.

An absorbing read for time travel fans. There aren’t multiple time jumps as the characters have only hours to act, but this makes The Twelve even more captivating. Glimpses into ancient times are fascinating to visit on the page, as are the plot devices and world building used in the narrative to be able to make the jumps. These visits also give our ancestors their due in how they lived, using all that was available to them to make life better.

Another difference noticeable between current Wales (where it is set) and the same places in the past, is the bird life and how bountiful it used to be.

The villain is convincing in his desire to change everything, as are his reasons for doing so. It sparks an ever increasing but provocative problem we are all dealing with around the world. But I’ll let you find out what that is yourself.

Told in Kit’s first person voice, with other threads of her problems in real life surfacing throughout the novel. There’s a lot on Kit’s plate in The Twelve, and Story is a fabulous support character. Their relationship grows without any romance, which is preferable for many YA readers.

Thanks to Faber Factory & Libro for an audio review copy of The Twelve.

Author – Liz Hyder

Illustrator – Tom de Freston

Age – 12+

Publisher – Faber Factory

Winner of the 2024 Nero Book Awards – Children’s Fiction Award

Winner of  the Tir na n-Og Award, Best English language book 2025.

(2025, Pushkin Children, Twelve watchers, Stone Clocks, Time unravelling, Time Travel, Time Slip, Story Musgrave, Portal, Golden Door, Rebel, UK, England, Friendships, Family, Sisters, Sacrifice, Kidnap, Time jumps, Shapeshifter, Humankind, Environment, Corrections, Betrayal, Courage, Fantasy, Love, Bullies, Bully, Time travel, St James’ Church, Stone Circle, History)