The House of Hidden Wonders

When a ghost and an illness threaten the tiny corner of the underground space they call home, Zinnie and her sisters must find a way to stay together, while being hunted by the police. As Zinnie agrees to undertake a special job, she quickly finds herself caught in a murderous web of lies. Can she unravel the mysteries in time to keep her family safe and together?

Gloriously gothic and deliciously dark, The House of Hidden Wonders is a tale of hauntings, deceptions, murders, mysteries and the family you choose, set within the gloom and despair of 1890's St Mary's Close.

Zinnie, Sadie and Nim are as much a family as any even though we quickly learn they are not related at all. With half of Edinburgh hunting Zinnie and her sisters, her resolve to keep everybody safe and uncover the truth without asking for help shows her determination, intelligence and resourcefulness. The bonds the sisters share, forged out of kindness and friendship (that doesn't always come first when fighting for survival), are stronger than anything life beneath the Edinburgh streets can throw at them, and Zinnie shows the heart's capacity to grow when she accepts a newcomer to their family.

Other supporting characters draw on real life people of the time, including Lady Sarah (inspired by Isabella Bird) and Sophia Jex-Blake (a real historical figure who changed history for women in medicine), who defied the social norms of the time to follow their passions of exploring and medicine respectively; these are bold, bright, brilliant women who fought for what they believed in. The addition of Arthur Conan Doyle as a young medical student was a joy for me, as a huge fan of his Sherlock Holmes stories - to imagine him as a young man, just beginning his literary career, was a joyful bonus.

MacDuff provides the chauvinistic thinking of the time, his arrogance and ignorance only accepted at the table because of his wealth and status as a newly arrived business man to the city. Darker characters lurk around every corner - Talbot terrorises but pales in comparison to Fowler, who appears to lack any humanity at all.

Tackling equal opportunities on a number of fronts (sex, class, colour, disability), the story raises many talking points along the way.

320 pages / Reviewed by Nicola Cleveland, school librarian

Suggested Reading Age 9+