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The Root Cellar by Janet Lunn
A girl sent to live with relatives stumbles upon an old cellar—and a doorway to another era where history feels close enough to touch. Atmospheric and heartfelt, The Root Cellar is a time-slip adventure about courage, friendship, and finding home across centuries.
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In The Root Cellar, did you enjoy ...
... a melancholy time-slip that strands a modern girl in another child’s life during wartime?
Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer
If Rose stepping through the root cellar into the 1860s—and the fear she might not make it back—hooked you, you’ll love how Charlotte Sometimes has Charlotte wake up in 1918, mysteriously swapped with a girl named Clare. As Charlotte navigates a boarding school under the shadow of the Great War and faces the very real possibility of being trapped in the past, the story captures that same wistful, uncanny pull you felt when Rose kept returning to Susan and Will’s world.
... a small, house-bound timeslip mystery centered on one girl’s inner life and a few intimate bonds?
A Stitch in Time by Penelope Lively
If you cherished the close-knit feel of Rose’s circle—her quiet moments with Susan and the small, historically textured spaces she slips into—A Stitch in Time offers that same intimacy. Maria spends a summer in an old Lyme Regis house where echoes of a Victorian child seep through objects and rooms. Like Rose’s cellar visits, Maria’s experiences are confined, personal, and deeply atmospheric, building connections that feel as real as the present.
... a girl thrust into the past who must grow up fast among strangers and find her courage?
Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park
If Rose’s growth—learning grit and tenderness while helping Susan and searching for Will—moved you, Playing Beatie Bow delivers a similarly heartfelt journey. Abigail Kirk is pulled from modern Sydney into 1873, where she’s drawn into the Bow family’s struggles, bargains with Granny Tallisker, and faces peril alongside Beatie and Judah. She returns home changed, just as Rose is, with hard-won empathy and a clearer sense of herself.
... an unwanted child discovering real belonging with people who aren’t her blood?
The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
If the makeshift family Rose finds with Susan’s people in the 1860s warmed you—those meals, chores, and quiet loyalties—The War That Saved My Life will hit home. Ada and her brother Jamie are evacuated from London and end up with Susan Smith, who slowly becomes the heart of a true home. Like Rose’s bond with Susan and Will, Ada’s trust blooms into love, offering that same deeply satisfying sense of chosen family.
... a tender, historically rooted time-slip that builds to a bittersweet farewell?
A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley
If the poignant end of Rose’s crossings—her aching partings from Susan and the fate surrounding Will—stayed with you, A Traveller in Time delivers a similar emotional swell. Penelope slips back to Elizabethan Derbyshire, befriends the Babington family at Thackers, and realizes she cannot alter their tragic course. The final leave-taking carries the same luminous sadness and fulfillment you felt at the close of The Root Cellar.
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