6 CHELSEA WALK Series

This series doesn't have a set title. On Amazon, it appears to be called the Historical House series, but I prefer to call it 6 Chelsea Walk. The series is six books that are set in the same building during six different time periods. It was originally a trilogy, then expanded into six. Three authors contributed two books apiece.

It begins with Ann Turnbull's Mary Ann and Miss Mozart, set in 1764 when the five story house is a boarding school for girls. Lizzie's Wish by Adele Geras jumps forward to 1857, when the building is now a family home with a protagonist who wants to be a gardener. A bit odd for a female back then! Cecily's Portrait, also by Geras, is set in 1895 with a girl getting to know the female photographer that lives in another house. Cecily, the daughter of the baby born in Lizzie's Wish, is Lizzie's niece and she makes an appearance near the end. Cecily, like Lizzie, has unusual ambitions in wanting to become a photographer. Linda Newbery's Polly's March is set in 1914 and about suffragettes. Turnbull's Josie Under Fire takes place in 1941 and deals with WWII. Andie's Moon by Newbery ends the series. It's set in 1969 and the protagonist wants to be an artist.

Each author does a good job with her pair of books and it's interesting to see the house in different incarnations, from school to family home to eventually a set of three apartments. There are some connections between the characters, but I wish they'd touched on that a little bit more. Mary Ann disappears from history, though her lost ticket is found later on. Lizzie and Cecily have their link, and a character who first appears in Polly's March is a presence in every book after.  

My favorite of the series is Andie's Moon, because I've read so little historical fiction from this era.