Island Treasure (by Helen Parker)

(Amazon UK link)

Years ago I was in a writing group with Helen Parker, and always appreciated her contributions. So I was very pleased when I learned that she had published a novel for teenagers, ‘Hide and Secret’.  I read it in October last year, and was delighted when a stand-alone sequel, ‘Island Treasure’ was published later in the year. I was given it by some family members for my birthday a couple of months ago, and have just finished reading it. 

Like ‘Hide and Secret’, this book is mainly about teens, and would probably be appreciated most by young people from around the ages of ten to fourteen or so. But like many of the best teenage books, it’s also a good read for adults. I thought it well-written, with realistic, believable characters, and could hardly put it down at times.

Chris is the main viewpoint character in this novel; he’s twelve, and was a more minor character in ‘Hide and Secret’. He lives with his family in Edinburgh and has settled into secondary school there.  So it’s rather a shock when his mother announces that she has a new job working as hotel manager in a small Scottish island. Sunnaig, as far as I know, is an imaginary place but it felt quite realistic, at least based on my own somewhat limited knowledge of Scottish islands. 

Chris is quite reluctant to go at first, particularly as his older brother Stuart - who is 17 - will be remaining in Edinburgh to finish his high school exams. He has a younger step-sister, Tonia, who is lively and quite empathetic, and Chris’s stepfather - known as ‘Daddo’ - works from home. Daddo is a caring, excellent stepfather who treats his stepsons as if they were his own sons. 

After arriving in Sunnaig, Chris and Tonia meet some Syrian refugees around their age, and become friendly with them. A few cultural differences are explored, and there are some issues with racism - both in its most common form, and also, to a lesser extent, in the islanders’ general dislike of ‘mainlanders’ arriving. 

There’s a strong Christian focus to the book; Chris particularly misses his church and youth group, and his friend Ruth who had encouraged him so much in his spiritual life. There are references to Bible verses that are important to him, but they’re in context, and not at all preachy. The underlying theme is of forgiveness - and it’s very difficult for Chris to forgive a quite unpleasant young man at his school who is something of a bully. 

There are some exciting scenes, some quite poignant ones, and overall an encouraging book that I would definitely recommend to anyone who liked ‘Hide and Secret’, although it’s not necessary to have read that first. 

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