History Literature / RunningOutOfTime

* AbusiveParents: Discussed when, after Jessie [[spoiler:exposes the masquerade and is hospitalized for diphtheria,]] her parents and all the other adults are investigated on charges of child neglect and emotional abuse. [[spoiler:One journalist points out that it was a huge burden for Jessie's mother to expect Jessie to carry the mission of notifying adults about the epidemic, though Jessie protests that she had to be the one to do it because her mother no longer fit into her only pair of modern-day clothes. Some parents are arrested, like Mr. Seward, but Jessie's parents are cleared and allowed to retain custody of their kids, provided that her dad goes to a therapist]].
* AdultsAreUseless: The only adults around are A) unable to help, B) so far into denial/fear that they can't see the problem to help, or C) actively causing TheMasquerade. [[spoiler: This is fortunately averted with the adults outside of the village who quickly take action to end the experiment once the truth is revealed.]]

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* DeadPersonImpersonation: Jessie is told to find Isaac Neeley, a man who opposed the formation of Clifton and can expose the diphtheria epidemic to the public and the media, and hopefully force Clifton's men to get treatment for the sick kids. [[spoiler:However, Isaac Neeley died sometime in the decade between Mrs. Keyser losing all access to the outside world and the time of the story. in a car accident. Frank Lyle found out who Jessie was aiming to contact when his henchman bumped into her and saw the paper with his name and phone number on it, so he broke into the house of the family who now had the number so he'd be the one to answer her call and pretend to be Mr. Neeley.]]
* DeathOfAChild: [[spoiler:Two of the children--Abby and Jefferson--die from diphtheria, despite Jessie's success in exposing the village.]]

* TheNineties: The book is set in the present day of the time--the 1990s--and describes trends from the real "present day" and how they seem strange to Jessie who has 1840s mentalities.

* SmallSecludedWorld: Clifton is separated completely from the outside world and has been for almost 20 years, being founded in the 1980s and serving as a historic preserve where the tourists who see them are [[BlatantLies told the people there know it's the modern era and are aware they're not in the past]]. While the adults who came in know there's an outside world, any children who have been born there really do believe it's 1840 and they live in the mid-19th century There had been plans to tell each child as they turned thirteen, but this was recanted by the founders to preserve the authenticity (and all the adults must keep up the {{Masquerade}} or be punished) so it actually is a severe shock to Jessie to learn it's really 1996.

* CityInABottle: Clifton is separated completely from the outside world and has been for almost 20 years, serving as a historic preserve where the tourists who see them are [[BlatantLies told the people there know it's the modern era]]. While the adults who came in know there's an outside world, any children who have been born there have no idea and really do believe it's 1840 and they live in the mid-19th century.

* PastRightNow: The existence of the historical preserved village, a key aspect of the story. While the adults remember a time when the village was allowed to be connected to the "present", few if any of the children do.