The Valley of Lost Secrets is a wonderfully warm book about rural life, village communities and how life really was for this community during World War II, as well as for the evacuated children. Jimmy and his younger brother Ronnie are evacuees. They find themselves with their schoolmates on a train to a small village in a valley in Wales, a world away from home in Islington, London. The country is at war but that’s not all Jimmy is worried about. He would rather be back with Dad and Nan than stuck with strangers in this odd place. The book is rich in historical detail about everything from food, religion and household routines to the importance of coal mining in the Welsh rural communities.