Secrets of the Snakestone
Piu DasGupta
Nosy Crow

Set above and below the Parisian streets towards the end of the nineteenth century, this utterly compelling story forced me to set aside my recently purchased adult novel in order to finish reading Snakestone in bed.

A cursed gemstone, a dark secret society – the Brotherhood of Blood, a circus full of vibrant characters, and a baby sloth, all this in a city where Zélie Dutta, a young girl from Calcutta, hopes to find her missing father and solve the mystery of why she was so suddenly taken out of school and sent to Paris. (The story of owing the Malaises money somehow doesn’t ring true, she knows there is more to it than that). Providing the lens through which we see the city – a place of innovation, decadence, and also great poverty – Zélie, our intrepid narrator, works as a lady’s maid with the formidable Madame Malaise. Because the girl’s eyes don’t match, the other servants in the house see her as a witch and are ready to blame whatever goes wrong in the household on her.

The second key character is Jules, a young boy working in the sewers, who has found a golden locket belonging to Zélie’s father. Suddenly emerging from a sewer, unaware of the way his life is about to turn, Jules – unwillingly to begin with – is drawn into Zélie’s adventures and plays an invaluable part henceforward. They make a brilliant team with the girl’s resourcefulness, determination and willingness to go to any lengths to help those she loves, not to mention her affirming pep talks that she sometimes gives herself, combined with the boy’s careful and considered attitude to things.

Full of mystery and adventure with themes of family, friendship and trust, along with the important lesson of not making hasty judgements about people, and the weaving into her story, real historical elements and allusions to colonisation, this is a great and unforgettable read for older primary children and beyond.