The Thames and Tide Club: The Secret City

Not so long ago, I came across an adult book called Mudlarking, Lost and Found on the River Thames, by Lara Maiklem, which is the fascinating account of the possessions discarded through history that can be discovered on the muddy shores and bed of London’s river as the tide goes out. The Time and Tides Club: The Secret City is Carnegie award-winning Katya Balen’s first book for a younger age group and begins a series about a band of children, who know that ‘Mudlarking was treasure-hunting. It was story-finding. It was magic.’ Not that much of what the children usually find could properly be called treasure (a withered crisp packet and an old coke bottle), but, on an apocalyptically wild and wet Saturday, Clem finds something that plunges the club (literally!) into a truly magical tale. Enhanced by Rachael Dean’s quirkily cheerful black and white illustrations, this is an engaging and funny fantasy that features a group of attractive child characters living in a diverse and warm riverside estate and discovering an underwater world that is a punning reflection of the city in which they live. There are more stories to come in the series.