The Sky Over Rebecca - by Matthew Fox

About the Book

When mysterious footprints appear in the Stockholm snow, ten-year-old Kara attempts to discover where they've come from and who they belong to. They lead Kara to Rebecca, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl, and her younger brother Samuel.

Before long Kara realizes Rebecca and Samuel are refugees from another time--World War II--who are trying to find their way home. Kara discovers that her friends are trapped in a time loop, and they must make it to the British plane that lands near their hideout in order to make it out alive. With unexpected help, Kara travels into the time split to help save her friends.

Matthew Fox's lyrical prose--both haunting and uplifting--invites readers into an otherworldly setting grounded in history.

Book Synopsis

When mysterious footprints appear in the Stockholm snow, ten-year-old Kara attempts to discover where they've come from and who they belong to. They lead Kara to Rebecca, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl, and her younger brother Samuel.

Before long Kara realizes Rebecca and Samuel are refugees from another time--World War II--who are trying to find their way home. Kara discovers that her friends are trapped in a time loop, and they must make it to the British plane that lands near their hideout in order to make it out alive. With unexpected help, Kara travels into the time split to help save her friends.

Matthew Fox's lyrical prose--both haunting and uplifting--invites readers into an otherworldly setting grounded in history.

Review Quotes

"Fox crafts a spectacular novel that explores family and friendship--and their importance throughout history and across time . . . . A great read for those intrigued by a unique, genre-mixing exploration of the era and friendship."--School Library Journal

"The exquisitely crafted story feels like gazing into a snow globe, focused on a small slice of one momentous winter. Spare, direct language captures the bleakness of the freezing natural setting and deep loneliness, but it also summons the life-giving warmth of new friendships and tendrils of hope. Readers are quietly given a real sense of danger and high stakes of the situation, and though the premise involves mind-bending time slips and eerie occurrences, it's also gorgeously grounded in the tender relationships between family members and new friends. An edifying exploration of human connection and compassion."--Booklist

"[An] evocative debut . . . . Fox's spare yet lyrical prose is well-suited to The Sky Over Rebecca's haunting, austere setting and atmosphere. The novel's stylistic restraint and vividly drawn characters will intrigue young readers and help them easily follow narrative shifts between the horrifying, wartorn past and the less deadly but still frightening present . . . . Fox introduces the terror of persecution in an accessible manner for young readers who may be reading about the Holocaust for the first time. A poignant final twist leads to a resonant conclusion in this memorable first novel."--Book Page STARRED Review

"Through Kara's understated voice and the novel's thrilling, quietly building suspense, Fox delivers a thoughtful meditation on the expansiveness of time, melded with Holocaust history and a solitary girl's personal growth, making for an enthralling read."--Publisher's Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

"[an] uplifting story of compassion and courage." --The Daily Express

"A highly atmospheric time-slip adventure with resonant themes of loneliness and courage." --Fiona Noble, The Bookseller

"A sensitively written time-slip debut from an exciting new voice in children's fiction." --Waterstones

"A time-travel story filled with friendship and compassion."--Kirkus Reviews

About the Author