An Island of our Own by Sally Nicholls - a touching treasure hunt

This lovable tale of orphaned children finding booty and adventure on a Scottish island manages to avoid sentimentality

Sally Nicholls’ characters are easy to love. From plain-speaking Sam McQueen fighting a heroic battle with cancer in Ways To Live Forever, to resolute Isabel coping with the loss of her loved ones in medieval, plague-ridden England in All Fall Down, they are real, funny and often blessed with an admirable, steady-eyed pragmatism in the face of adversity. And thank goodness for that because, in the hands of another author, An Island of Our Own could have drowned in syrupy sentimentality. The elements are there – a poor orphan searching for treasure to raise funds for a pet rabbit in need of an expensive, life-saving injection – but the plot, implausible though it is at times, never once becomes maudlin.

Holly Kennet, 12, lives in a London flat with her two brothers, seven-year-old Davy and Jonathan, 18, who has given up on dreams of university to be his siblings’ guardian following the deaths of Mum and Dad. He makes special curries (“everything-we’ve-got-in-the-cupboard curry”) and mashed potato surprise, and he works long shifts at Cath’s Caf, leaving Holly to take care of Davy. The trio get by, though their parents’ absence is keenly felt. “It’s been a year and a half,” Holly wryly observes, “since anyone shined my shoes.” Money is a problem that weighs heavily on Jonathan, in particular, a loveably serious young man forced to grow up too quickly for the sake of his brother and sister, not that Holly sees it that way: “Jonathan’s in charge of me, but it’s not that simple because I do just as much washing-up as he does.” As always with Nicholls, the narrative voice is spot-on, an endearing combination of adolescent attitude and vulnerability. We feel for Holly at the same time as being impressed by her spunk.

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