The mud puddlers by Pamela Rushby

When 12-year-old Nina is sent to live with Aunt Bee in London while her scientist parents travel to Antarctica for a year, she is determined to stay angry, withdrawn and uncommunicative. However, living with Aunt Bee on a converted barge on the River Thames turns out to be an experience which Nina could never have envisaged.

Aunt Bee is a passionate mudlarker who belongs to a group of Mud Puddlers who scour the Thames at low tide for hidden treasures. Nina is reluctantly drawn into the excitement of the search and slowly realises, with the help of Molly on the neighbouring barge, she has the ability to travel back in time when focused on an item she has found. Molly has warned Nina that she must not let go of the item and try not to engage with those she meets. Nina returns from her first three visits with relative ease although her experience at a Suffragettes march leaves her shaken.

After finding part of a World War 2 gas mask, Nina travels back to London and finds herself on a platform with children being evacuated to the country. Nina loses her gas mask in the rush and is pulled onto a train bound for an unknown destination. Here she meets the very sullen Tom who is determined to go back to his family. They both run away from their temporary homes and head back towards London. This is a long and difficult journey, but they do receive kindness and help along the way from well-meaning strangers. Nina knows it is imperative that she finds her gas mask to be able to return to the present, but the two children face terrible danger in trying to achieve this.

The Mud Puddlers is a wonderful fast-paced middle-grade read where past and present meet, where historical events are presented in an engaging and exciting story, and where a young girl learns to let go of her unhappiness. The inclusion of further information about the events covered in the story is a very welcome and thoughtful addition.

This well written and very entertaining story would make an excellent class novel.

Themes: Timeslip, History, Family, Feelings, Mudlarks, Excitement, Danger, London.

Kathryn Beilby