Deep Dark
Cassia Thorne misses her home and life in India. Returning to London with her father has only gone from bad to worse, ending up with them living in Fleet
Street Debtor’s Prison. She may come and go, but her father remains locked up and descending into mad ravings about who was responsible for the sinking of his ships and his business along with it.
Still, Cassia has made some good friends on the streets of London. Sure they may be poor and live by their wits, but Cassia finds them friendly, fun and honest (mostly). Cassia tutors children for a few coins, which helps her and her father survive. She’s more worried about the street children who seem to be going missing. When a friend’s brother vanishes, the family search relentlessly but with no luck. Cassia is desperate to help.
Asking her father’s lawyer for help only brings more heartache with the truth of her father’s chances of ever leaving prison, but it does bring an ally. Felix is wealthy and keen to help Cassia find out what is happening to the children of London. He has a strong sense of doing the right thing, and with his help and knowledge, they dive into a mystery below the streets of London and then even deeper again, into the Deep Dark.
Their discoveries are horrifying, and the fact that no one will believe them, even more so. Cassia must draw on all she has learnt on the streets of London, everyone she might think will help them, and summon her courage like never before.
Her father, the wealthy, and a strange tune that flits through the streets, are all part of a mystery ages-old that lies deep in the ocean. Cassia will do anything to stop them.
Cassia Thorne is an intriguing character – born in India into a wealthy shipping family, but now living in London’s Fleet Street Debtor’s Prison, until someone bails out her cash strapped father.
This prison was actually built in the 1100’s and still in use in the 1800’s as in this story. Fiction is a brilliant way for children to learn about history whilst enjoying a cracking good story – and Deep Dark is definitely that.
Deep Dark has a brave but kind heroine, with wealthy and street savvy friends at her side. The contrast between the wealth and the abject poverty is also clear, bringing empathy for the street children, no one seems to care about. Add ruthless adults spinning strange rhymes, and something lurking deep below the London streets, even lower than the abandoned crypts – and the story’s intensity slowly builds.
With an explosive ending and the thought that all could be lost after all, Deep Dark had me hooked to the last page.
Author – Zohra Nabi
Age – 8+
(2025, Simon & Schuster, London, Street Children, Missing Children, Mystery, Urchins, Fleet Street, Prisons, Poverty, Friendship, Courage, Historical, Adventure, Action, Music, Wealth, Greed)
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