The Thirteen Treasures

Michelle Harrison's The Thirteen Treasures is a dark, twisty fairy mystery for 10 year olds about a girl who's the only one who can see them.

What happens

Tanya has seen fairies all her life, and they are NOT sweet. They creep into her room at night, pinch her, and float her up to the ceiling as a punishment for writing about them in her diary. Nobody believes a word of it, least of all her mum.

After one night too many, Mum packs her off to her grandmother's crumbling manor in the Essex countryside. The house is all locked doors and peeling wallpaper. It's also crawling with fairies, from a grumpy brownie asleep in the tea caddy to whatever's squabbling inside the grandfather clock.

In the dusty library Tanya finds a cutting from an old local paper. A fourteen-year-old called Morwenna Bloom went walking in the woods behind the manor one evening and was never seen again. Tanya's grandmother knew her. And the look on her face says she really doesn't want to talk about it.

Then there's Fabian, the groundskeeper's son, who jumps out of trees at people and calls it research. He's nosy and annoying, and you'll probably have a soft spot for him before long anyway.

Reading it feels like a proper old mystery with the lights turned down. There are hidden passages, a charm bracelet with thirteen tiny charms, and an old woman in a caravan deep in the woods who sees things in a bowl of water. It takes its time, in a good way.

This one has real shadows in it. The fairies leave Tanya bruised and threaten to wipe her memory for good. She buries a tiny fairy she finds dead on a car windscreen. The old newspaper report says the caves in the woods are a known suicide spot. And her mum tells her she can't cope with her any more. For a sensitive reader, or one who's scared of the dark, that's a lot.

For a confident reader who loves a creepy house and a cold case, though, it's brilliant.

What to read next

If they're hooked, Michelle Harrison's A Pinch of Magic has another family full of secrets. Three sisters, a family curse, a granny with very strict rules, and an opening chapter that's every bit as shivery.