Hidden Treasure by Jessie Burton: REVIEW

Synopsis

While young Bo Delafort is mudlarking on the banks of the Thames one day in 1918, she finds a jewel-studded silver disk and believes she hears the river speaking to her through it. This treasure could be the answer to her family’s prayers! But someone else has been searching for it and won’t give up their claim to it easily…

My Review

Hidden Treasure is wonderful. WON.DER.FUL. I can’t even tell you how much tween-me would have adored this book. But adult-me kind of adored it, too. It feels timeless, and that doesn’t happen very often these days.

A book for all times and all ages

There’s something about Jessie Burton’s writing style that reminds me so much of the classics I grew up reading. I loved it in The Miniaturist, but it works even better when aimed at a younger audience. Make no mistake, this is a children’s book, but unlike a lot of modern middle-grades, it’s written as though children are intelligent human beings with a good grasp of the English language, well-developed emotional intelligence, and good taste in reading material. This is a new Secret Garden or The Wind in the Willows. An instant classic, and one that adults will get just as much (if not more) out of than kids.

The magic, the mystery, the moral of the story

The magic in this story is exactly the kind of quiet, ancient, the-river-is-alive magic I’ve always loved. It calls back to a time before wizards and witches took over children’s fantasy, and returns to a mythological animism that really speaks to me (and to most kids). When I first picked it up, the magic of the talking river charmed me, and I settled in for a wholesome adventure with the mudlarking girl, but pretty soon I was sucked in by a much more complex plot than I’d been expecting.

This book has plot twists that will blow young minds (and kinda blew mine). Burton doesn’t fall into lazy writing or weak plotting at all, despite the ages of her characters and her intended readership. She gives her young audience as much hard work and respect as she’d give adult readers, and you have to admire that. There’s a depth here that adult readers will appreciate and, hopefully, young readers will learn a lot from. For instance, Burton offers us some beautiful insights into the pain and the healing from grief and loss. As a kid, I know I would have been moved by it and probably would have learned something about having a healthy perspective of death that I hadn’t been exposed to before. I don’t want to get into specifics, because I don’t want to spoil anything… but it’s lovely and wholesome and bittersweet. Just perfection.

Conclusion

5 stars. Loved it. Highly recommend it for everyone, young and old.

Pre-order Hidden Treasure now on Bookshop.org* (Release Date: June 24)
*As an affiliate, I will receive a small commission from any purchase made through this link

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration.