Orphan siblings Holly, Jonathan, and Davy are barely getting by after their mother’s death. Jonathan has given up on university in order to care for his two younger siblings, but he struggles to pay the rent and cover other expenses like clothing and school supplies. When their eccentric great aunt Irene dies, the three learn that she has left them something in her will, but she has hidden her valuables and important papers. The only clues they have are photographs of the places where the valuables are hidden. The siblings set off on a treasure hunt to find their legacy with the help of some of their friends.

Even though the characters confront a lot of sadness head-on, this is ultimately an uplifting story of family, community, and discovery. The makerspace community that the children are a part of provides an interesting twist to a familiar treasure hunt theme. I would love to read a sequel to this story and see these children blossom. ( )

Three orphans quest for buried treasure in this well-crafted quick-to-read story which is sad and heartwarming in turns.

This book feels like a cross between Jaqueline Wilson and Enid Blyton. There is a big dollop of ‘realistic kids misery lit’ like not being able to afford rent and vet’s bills, entwined with ‘we have a photograph of a place where Treasure is buried, can we find it?’

I bought it because I was going to Orkney on holiday. There’s only a short chunk at the end where they are on Orkney, but I thought it did capture the island well, although more from the perspective of ‘what is it like to be a tourist’ which I did kind of know already. It was fun to recognise all the places though!

I guess it is hard to write a book where children have adventures and have the main adults in the children’s lives be likeable and competent, but they really did draw the short straw with their family! A literally paranoid Aunt who causes most of the plot by hiding all the money in the first place (and who has done a staunch ‘no, I don’t help people with money, people must help themselves’ when her nephews and niece are orphaned, despite being A Fabulously Wealthy Inventor), her husband who literally steals the heroes’ inheritance, and their daughter, who is so wrapped up with raising her own perfect children at private school she turns a complete blind eye to their cousins. It felt realistic though, everyone wrapped up in their own problems and scared to start helping in case it was a bottomless hole.

The book is trying quite hard to be modern and realistic, and broadly manages it well. There were a few things that didn’t feel like they would quite work (the problem of getting back from Mainland Orkney to Aberdeen is pretty much elided with ‘a farmer has a boat on Papa Westray’ and they manage to book a car on the ferry to Orkney with less than a day’s notice in Summer with limited budget!) but nothing too outrageous.

It is doing the ‘use books for children to recommend other famous books to children’ thing, there is a liberal scattering of references to books I like, including Dorothy L Sayers, the Family at One End Street, and the title is a Donne reference. It is from the time when we all thought Potter was great too.

An enjoyable read with a very likeable plucky first person narrator. ( )