Olympia's Pendant

A long time ago, when she was a baby, Mrs Greenfield saved Olympia's life. The pendant she wore around her neck is a gift and reminder of that time. After this incident in Olympia's parents' minds, no errand was too big to repay this old woman's heroic act of kindness. Growing up, Olympia was encouraged to help Mrs Greenfield, to do the chores around her old antique home and to keep her company so that she didn't feel the loneliness of old age.

In recent times, a spate of burglaries had disrupted the peace of the city. After disturbing intruders in her own house on her 16th birthday, Olympia stayed with Mrs Greenfield to make sure she was safe. One of the things she loved doing most when Mrs Greenfield was fast asleep was looking through the old ladies albums and musing about what life must have been like in the past. One night she falls asleep with the album in her arms and wakes up to a time when World War II erupted, one of the deadliest periods in history. She immediately recognises some of the people and places from the past in the faces of people in the community. Their faces resemble those in Mrs Greenfield’s album. She has always felt drawn to the small white framed Kodak pictures in the well thumbed album so it is no surprise when Olympia quickly adjusts to the new time period, connecting strongly with the people she meets there and in particular with Charlie whose face she was unable to forget.

At first, it doesn't seem so important that Olympia has no idea about how to get back to the present. As dramatic events unfold and the danger of the war approaches Australian shores, it soon becomes obvious that the longer she stays in the past the greater risk to the people she has grown to love. Getting back is a problem she has to solve alone as Mrs Greenfield is nowhere in sight.

The story is the debut novel of Maria Papazoglou and it is set within the magical version of Melbourne.