The Deeping Secrets by Victor Watson

I'm just going to rush straight into this one - I loved this book!  I loved Paradise Barn too, but if it's possible I liked The Deeping Secrets even more.  Watson's characters are all so gorgeously human that I felt for each and every one straight away - Molly and Adam and Abigail, and new characters Edward and Joe, and even the villain of the piece. (I didn't like him, but I could feel what he felt, so I felt for him...)  I think, for me, this is the most important thing about a story - if I'm pulled into not just the world, but the characters themselves, then I'm beautifully, wonderfully lost in the words and I'll want to read forever...

The adventure story itself is fun, and I love that we see the children's worlds growing as the days - hours, minutes - progress.  It's not just about the action itself, it's about what the action means - but there's no moral or  meaning thumped into our heads, it's just... there, for us to come across, and ponder on, just as it is for the children.And Molly and the others are still beautifully individually drawn - they're growing up together and apart, as children do, as children feel that they do - on the one hand, with their best friend right there beside them, on the other hand coping on their own with all the new feelings and discoveries that they make themselves. This is never explained to us, but shown with the lightest of touches, which is perhaps what makes the story so readable for me - Watson doesn't explain things, or lecture at me, or do anything at all to remind me that he's telling me about something that happened. He hasn't come into my world at all, he's very gently showing me his, and letting me look around and just relax into it.  And I do.  I can't wait for his next book!

Now I'm just wittering on, but