Elle Lee Strauss

Elle Lee Strauss is a Canadian author of speculative books for younger readers, historical mysteries, and contemporary stories, also publishing as Lee Strauss and Elle Strauss. Clockwise opens her time travel series with Casey Donovan, a teenager who is repeatedly pulled from the present into the nineteenth century. During one unexpected shift she takes classmate Nate Mackenzie with her, changing both the practical stakes and the emotional shape of her secret. The novel first appeared in 2011, combining school life with the constraints of the 1860s and establishing the rules that later Clockwise books develop. Strauss has written across several genres, including the Ginger Gold historical mysteries under the Lee Strauss name, but this series keeps its focus on young characters navigating history and consequence. Clockwise is therefore an important bridge within her bibliography: it joins a speculative premise to historical detail while introducing the dual byline readers may encounter across editions. Its series position also explains why Casey receives a continuing arc for her unusual ability beyond one adventure.