The Girl in the Ticket Office Window

Patricia M Osborne

I’m excited to announce that The Girl in the Ticket Office Window will be released on the 10th November 2025. It will be available to read in paperback, on kindle and if you have kindle unlimited you’ll be able read it with that too.
It is now available to preorder on Amazon Kindle at a special price of 99p/99c. Following release the price will be £2.99/$4.50. The reason for the introductory price is to ensure that my loyal followers get the best deal.

I’m so happy with the cover and I hope you all like it too. Andy Keylock (Marketing Pace), my cover designer, has done an amazing job.

The Girl in the Ticket Office Window, the first book in the Zara timeslip series, is a little different to my normal books in as much that it uses a dual timeline that slips from present day to 1910. I was inspired to write this novel from an old photograph I spotted on a local Facebook group. The story began as a flash fiction and my very good friend and editor, Maureen Cullen, who is also a brilliant writer, advised me, ‘This could be a novel.’ I had my doubts, but yes, I turned it into a novel and what’s more, the second book in the series is over two-thirds written.

The book provides the normal themes of strong friendships and social conflict that I like to use, whilst also adding a bit of mystery and romance, including a love triangle with two men a century apart.

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About the Book

Girl misses train – catches a ride backwards in time

Journalist Zara Wiseman discovers an unexpected story for Feminine Smile Magazine when she finds herself transported back to 1910 and becomes Lady Rebecca. Initially the 24-year-old believes her quest is to save Rebecca from an arranged marriage to Sir Richard Cavendish but soon realises he’s not the true villain. As Zara unearths two deadly dark secrets, she fears Rebecca and Sir Richard’s lives could be in danger.

Torn between travelling back in time to save Rebecca and Richard and leaving her own life behind, Zara summons all her strength to fulfil her mission. With a dual timeline slipping between present day and 1910, Zara is caught in a love triangle with dishy boyfriend, Scott, and Sir Richard, the dashing and devoted gentleman.

Can Zara accomplish her mission?

Will she find her way back home?

Will she want to?

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The Opening of Chapter 1

Strobe after strobe of blinding light seared through my eyelids then shattered into a thousand stars. I thought my head would burst. Stunned, I forced myself to reopen my eyes. What the …? My jeans and trench coat had gone. Instead, I was dressed in an emerald velvet gown to my ankles. Commuters carrying laptops had disappeared. In their place a few gentlemen in dark suits and bowler hats sauntered over to the platform, swinging large brollies at their sides. I stared up at the unfamiliar glass ceiling. What the hell had just happened?

            I moved over to the ticket office window and peered at my reflection. A straw hat topped with flowers and feathers matching the cream lace bodice was positioned on my piled-up hair. No sign of the wheeled suitcase either. It was like I’d stepped inside someone’s dream. My pulse pounded. There had to be some kind of scientific explanation. I headed back out of the station hoping everything would be as usual but all was far from normal.

            The road was empty with not a car in sight. I inhaled clean air. My stomach churned so I covered my mouth to stop throwing up. This couldn’t be real. My eyes shot to a little girl in a white smock dress and straw boater perched on a fence. She appeared mesmerised by two young lads in a scuffle. They wore grey tweed flat caps just like my great grandfather had owned. I was losing myself in a history book. I blinked back salty tears. If this was real, supposing I never got back to my own time? Mum and Dad couldn’t lose another child. And what would become of Chloe? My sister needed me.

            The bridge ahead was blemish free and surrounded by greenery. As if in an early twentieth century movie, a gentleman in Edwardian dress promenaded out of The Fox Inn. His eyes lit up with recognition as he approached. ‘Good morning, Lady Rebecca.’ He doffed his bowler hat.

            Lady Rebecca? Who the hell was I? My name was Zara. Once he’d passed me by I whispered, ‘Please God, if there is a god’ – I sobbed – ‘please help me.’

            After stepping off the pavement I witnessed another blinding flash. Disoriented, I stepped back and tripped. A blue Volkswagen almost hit me. The woman driver hooted her horn and raised her fist shouting abuse. The pedestrian man changed to green. As I hurried across the road my ankle boots felt huge on my feet; the court shoes had gone and so had the dress. I was wearing my own twenty-first century clothes and the suitcase rattled on wheels. The bridge was covered in grime and graffiti. The Fox Inn had disappeared and The Fox Revived had returned. Thank goodness I was back in 2023. I gave a sigh of relief. Had I gone through some kind of portal and then back out again?

            My heart pulsated as I turned towards Bridge View Station. Avoiding the main entrance in case it sent me back, I slipped in through the side doorway.

~~~

I hope that the opening has made you want to read more. On release you can order a copy via Amazon, bookstore, or your local library.

In the meantime find out more and preorder on Kindle at the special price of 99p/99c. Price goes up on release.

Watch out for more bookish news concerning House of Grace trilogy.