In the charming town of Whimblewick, where most folks don't mind if things run a little behind schedule, eleven-year-old Cal notices everything that isn't exactly right. As a boy with autism, he counts his steps, needs his routines, and sees patterns others miss—traits that make school difficult but lead him to spot something impossible: a clock moving backward in a dusty shop window.

This discovery introduces Cal to Professor Thaddeus Bramblewick, an eccentric clockmaker who sees what everyone else has missed—Cal's autism isn't something to "fix," but a collection of remarkable gifts. When Professor Bramblewick invites Cal to become his apprentice, a whole new world opens beneath the clockmaker's shop, where enormous gears and delicate mechanisms maintain the very fabric of time itself.

In the hidden Workshop, Cal learns to polish the Gleam of June to ensure summer arrives perfectly on schedule and calibrate the Hands of Chance that distribute luck throughout town. His need for order and precision makes him a natural at this magical work. But when strange disruptions begin occurring—seasons spinning out of control, shadows behaving like living things, and time itself becoming unstable—Cal must embrace the unique way his mind works to save Whimblewick.

As Professor Bramblewick grows mysteriously weaker and the crucial Equinox Gear cracks, Cal faces his biggest challenges yet. Can he use his extraordinary attention to detail and pattern recognition to craft a solution before time unravels completely?

Perfect for readers 9-15 who loved "The Mysterious Benedict Society," this heartwarming middle-grade adventure celebrates neurodiversity and shows that sometimes the qualities that make us feel different are actually our greatest strengths. "The Gears of Time" is the start of a magical new series where heroism comes from being exactly, wonderfully who you are.