The Peach Thief

Smith’s richly detailed debut, set in 1850s England, centers orphaned preteen Scilla Brown, a workhouse runaway. Drawn by the scent of peaches, Scilla, disguised as a boy, sneaks into the Earl of Havermore’s walled garden, where she is caught and unexpectedly employed as a pot scrubber, a job that provides her with decent food and a soft bed for the first time in her life. Fueled by a growing fascination with gardening, Scilla—now going by Seth—begins to dream of becoming a permanent employee and, eventually, a gardener. Scilla’s secret—jeopardized by her growing breasts, the onset of her menstrual cycle, and her unfamiliar feelings for gardener-in-training Phineas Blake, who takes her under his wing—keeps the tension and drama steady throughout. Scilla’s personal integrity, often hard-won, makes her a sympathetic protagonist, but occasional flashbacks and passing references slowly, yet never fully, reveal aspects of her traumatic past, resulting in gaps that may muddle readers’ understanding of her entire story. An author’s note adds helpful context about English workhouses of the period and includes extensive historical grounding for Smith’s immersive depiction of life in a mid-19th-century English estate and its gardens. All characters read as white except for an India-born adult. Ages 8–12. (Mar.)