It’s 1918, and Bo’s beloved big brother Harry is going off to do his bit in the war. Bo knows there will be a huge gap in their small home while he is gone, leaving her and their mum waiting for his return.

Bo knows how to keep busy however, as she loves to spend hours and hours mud larking down on the banks of the nearby Thames river. Along with her best friend Eddie, they have found all sorts of treasures in the river silt when the tide is low.

But one day, Bo hears a voice and as she follows what it says, she finds a strange moon shaped disc. Washing it clean, she and Eddie see that it is covered in jewels. They both know these jewels can pull Bo’s family out of poverty while Harry is away. It can change everything.

But Bo can’t bring herself to sell it off. She knows somehow that it is something special, and part of something much more important than money. It makes her see visions of a past she doesn’t know, but Eddie won’t believe her – urging her to sell it.

Bo is drawn back to the Thames even more than before, and this is where she meets Billy. She is relieved that when she finally tells him of the visions and then what she found, he instantly believes her. Between them and her new school teacher, Miss Cressant; they unravel a mystery of what the disc is, where it came from and what it can do.

Bo soon finds that her visions are much more than she first thought, and those helping her so much a part of the whole mystery. A mystery that goes back hundred’s of years.

Wow. Such a gripping read! Set in London in 1918, this middle grade novel has everything. Mystery, love, family, crime, secrets and something quite unnatural too.

Bo is a strong, likeable character and Jessie Burton’s exquisite writing had me right alongside Bo and her friend Billy’s side as they unravelled the secrets of an ancient artefact.

We see both Bo’s and Billy’s view on their lives – Bo living with her mum and missing her big brother, and Billy living in an old brick mansion that was once grand and looked after. This novel holds surprises for readers and although I picked up on one before its reveal, there are others that thrilled me as I reached the conclusion of the story.

Jessie Burton is an award winning author of both children’s and adult novels. I loved her writing so much in Hidden Treasure, I’m going to seek more of them out.

Author – Jessie Burton

Age – 9+

(2025, Bloomsbury Children’s Books, Penguin Random House, Historical, Friendship, Family, Grief, Crime, Secret, Mystery, London, 1918, War, Brothers, Siblings, River, Thames, Ballad, Clues, Visions)