Buy the hardback from Amazon UK
Junior
Hodder Children's Books
Hardback £12.99
ISBN: 0340893494
Reviewed by Angela Solomons
[Armadillo 6.4 Winter 2004]
Charmian Hussey wrote this book seventeen years ago for her young son. It was inspired by his love of wildlife. Languishing in her loft for the past ten years and originally self-published, it is a curious mix of locations moving between the Amazonian jungle and an old Cornish mansion called Lansbury Hall.
The Hall itself is regarded with some unease by the locals - it is said to be inhabited by an ancient recluse although no-one has set eyes on him for decades.
Stephen, the main character, was abandoned as a baby and had given up hope of a family of his own when he receives a letter telling him that he has inherited the Hall in his great uncle's will. Stephen travels down to Cornwall to reclaim his inheritance and is immediately faced with both practical problems (there is no-one there to meet him and he has to survive on his own) and a sense that the old Hall is harbouring many secrets (what is the meaning of the strange lights he sees at night?)
In an effort to learn more about his great uncle, Stephen discovers a diary of a journey that Great Uncle Theodore made with his best friend to the Amazonian Basin at the turn of the century. He subsequently discovers that this journey has greater significance to his present circumstances and that it solves many of the mysteries surrounding him.
The Valley of Secrets is an absorbing read with a definite ecological message relevant to modern day readers; however I felt that it did at some points condescend to the reader. Nevertheless it is good to see a book of fiction concentrating on environmental issues.