The Herbert Trilogy I: HGW Express: A Fantasy in Time

When two children, Butzy and Jude, decipher the intricate cryptogram on the back of their middle-aged father's recently inherited grandfather clock, they discover that the magnificent, Nineteenth Century antique--called "Herbert" by the sisters--is, in reality, a time machine. After the siblings' naive and ill-advised trip to alter the past proves destructive, Butzy, the narrator and the more precocious of the two, must then decide whether or not an excursion into the future in order to prevent a tragic accident is a wise gamble.