HIDDEN TREASURE

In 1918, a 12-year-old girl finds a jewel in the mud of the River Thames that changes her life.

Bo Delafort is a mudlark—she sifts through the mud on the banks of the Thames for odds and ends that she can sell. One day, hearing the river speak to her—“Now!…Put your hands in now!”—she finds a round silver object studded with rubies and pearls and engraved with illegible writing. When she holds the precious item, it shows her a perplexing vision. Then Bo meets a mysterious boy named Billy, who’s her age, on the riverbanks; later she discovers that the Thames has spoken to him also. The two learn that there’s another jewel—the Brightest Sun, which is a mate to Bo’s Eclipsing Moon—and also that another person is seeking them. As the friends unearth the story of the jewels’ history, they learn the part they each play in their own destinies. While the plot is inventive and intriguing, the presentation is uneven. Some aspects of the characterization skim the surface, although the in-depth detailing of grief (Bo’s older brother has just gone off to war) and some moral ambiguities surrounding the behavior of Bo’s teacher, Miss Cressant, strike a too-adult note for the intended readership. The result is an uneasy mixture: a story that is thin in places yet feels too complex in others. Characters present white.

An intriguing concept with an unclear audience.