When I was a child (about 20-25 years ago), I read a book about a
young girl who goes to stay in a convent or boarding school in
England. It had been some kind of tudor castle or something. She kept
travelling back in time to the tudor era and there was a lot of
history in the text especially about Ann Boleyn. I remember that the
song "Greensleeves" had a lot of significance in the story.

I am looking for the title and author of this book.

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Request for Question Clarification by jackburton-ga on 20 Oct 2002 11:29 PDT

dear slynne-ga

I believe the book you are reffering to is called a "A Traveller in
Time", written by Alison Uttley [ISBN 0-14-030931-4].

This book It tells the tale of Penelope Taberner Cameron who is lives
with her parents, her brother, and sister In London. She is ill and
her mother arranges for the three children to go to the country away
from the London fogs. They are sent to stay with Great Aunt Tissie at
Thackers farm in Derbyshire.

The children all enjoy helping on the farm and riding the pony, but
Alison finds she can pass back in time and meet the people who stayed
at Thackers farm 300 years ago. At that time Thackers was owned by
Anthony Babbington. Penelope learns that he wants to free Mary Queen
of Scots and help to put her on the throne. Penelope knows that this
will result in failure and in the death of both Mary and of Babbington
himself, but she is unable to warn him.

This is not about the plot which led to the death of Mary and of
Babbington himself. It is another plot two years before the final one.

A Traveller in Time was first published in 1939 and it is a modern
children's classic. As well as a story about Mary Queen of Scots it
also gives a delightful picture of rural life in the first half of
this century with the milk being taken to the railway station in a
cart pulled by a pony. Then, at harvest time, the hay is scythed and
then forked into haystacks, while in the house there is no bathroom
but only a basin and jug of water in the bedrooms.

I found nothing about a girl travelling in time involving Ann Boleyn
or the song Greensleeves. I sourced this information by typing the
following words:
book girl "travels back in time" queen england +

If this is indeed the book you are referring to, then please respond
to my clarification, so I can submit my response as an answer to your
question.

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Clarification of Question by slynne-ga on 20 Oct 2002 12:46 PDT

That is not the book but it sure sounds like a good one! It also
sounds very similar to the one I am looking for.

The thing I remember most about this book is that they go into the
whole Greensleeves legend. I remember that they said that it was
written by Henry VIII.

Hello.

Your book is "Time Tangle" by Frances Eagar (1976).

See this description in the Usenet group rec.arts.books.childrens from
20 Nov 1994:

"One of my favourite books of this sort is _Time Tangle_.
It's about a girl who's sent to live in a convent school and ends
up in the middle of a Tudor mystery.  There's some neat time-slipping,
and the entire ambience of the book is rather eerie."
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=CzKzs2.DzE%40osuunx.ucc.okstate.edu&output=gplain

Also see the listing from the Library of Congress:
"While staying at her convent school over Christmas, a young girl
meets a mysterious young man she believes is a ghost from the
sixteenth century."
http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v3=1&DB=local&CMD=010a+77001612&CNT=10+records+per+page
See this other description from a seller on Abebooks:
"Beth time warps between the present day and 400 years ago in Tudor
England, or is she dreaming?"
http://dogbert.abebooks.com/abe/BookDetails?bi=60843610

Used copies are available starting $2.95 at a Alibris:
http://www.alibris.com/search/search.cfm?qwork=6705183&matches=13&qsort=p

search strategy: rec.arts.books.childrens, convent school

I hope this helps.

Thanks. This sounds like the right one. Now that it is mentioned, I
remember that she meets a young man and how it isnt really clear if
what is happening is real or a dream.