Hidden Hardcover – September 15, 2016

This is such a great book that had me grinning and giggling with laughter one moment, wiping away quiet tears the next.Hidden is told through the eyes of Alix, a teenage girl living on Hayling Island in England. Her voice is so honest and raw, her emotions there for all to see. Alix has to make some pretty huge decisions and cope with so much going on around her, like an entertainer spinning plates on long bamboo poles.Alix witnesses a gang of thugs tormenting Samir, a lad from her school. A tentative friendship develops after she stands up for him. While walking along the beach, they rescue a drowning man from the freezing waters. The man turns out to be an asylum seeker, but if they turn him over to the police, will he be sent straight back to Iraq and certain death?Yeah, pretty huge decisions. Alix and Samir vow to keep their mystery man safe, but in the best tradition of 'a secret is something you tell one person at a time,' other friends and enemies soon find out what's going on. That's when things become really messy for Alix and the story becomes engrossing.At times, Hidden could so easily veer off to become a thumping big issue, but author Miriam Halahmy weaves a careful path of emotions and maintains the strong narrative that makes this a thoroughly entertaining story first, and an issue second.

Loved this book, written from the perspective of a 14-year old girl who possesses both courage and wit. Don't understand why the goodreads.com rating was only 3-1/2 stars. I rarely enjoy books written from a child's perspective, the one exception coming to mind being Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. I also loved this young woman's perspective. She's a runner, she works hard at school, she takes care of her Mom when it should be the other way around, she has a paper route. All this and she still has a sense of humor. There's a strong message accompanying the tale -- about giving immigrants a chance, maybe even extending a friendly hand, what a concept -- but it doesn't detract from the interesting story line, intriguing setting on a British island, and the fun of getting to know the characters, and seeing the lead character and her immigrant friend both find their voices.

Great book! I was really drawn into the story of the characters and was thoroughly caught up in what was going to happen to them. I can see immense appeal to the young adult audience it's targeted to, and was impressed at how well it held my attention as an adult. A good solid story with a relevant topic both in the UK and the US. Best part is that the 2nd book (Illegal) is already out and is just as fantastic - have to wait for the 3rd book though.

Alix and her mum live in a small cottage on Hayling Island. Things have been tough since Alix's dad left to be with another woman and they get harder still when her mum breaks her leg, leaving Alix to do everything around the house. Life isn't much better at school, where she's disturbed by the racism that comes out in school during a class on immigration - particularly the abuse directed at her classmate Samir, which prompts her to try and find out more about him and his family.One morning, she and Samir see a man thrown out of a boat into the freezing water. Together they save the man's life but it's obvious that he's an illegal immigrant and worse, he's been tortured. As Alix and Samir try to work out what to do with the man, anti-immigration feeling in Hayling grows and soon they find it difficult to know who to trust, let alone what action they should take.Miriam Halahmy's debut YA novel (the first in a trilogy) is a beautifully written, literary look at immigration from a teenager's point of view.Alix is essentially someone who wants to do the right thing but finds it difficult to know what that is given the complex issues surrounding immigration and asylum seekers. Her developing friendship with Samir forces her to think more deeply about what those issues really mean and I enjoyed the way the pair slowly come to trust each other. Alix's first person voice is also strongly realised.However for me the most interesting character is actually the morally ambivalent Lindy who's not above bullying other girls, whose brother is racist and yet who seems to have her own code because she's the only character who isn't predictable in the story. This isn't to take away from the writing (which is excellent) but because this is an issue-based novel, the characters are painted in broad shades, which means there isn't much of a surprise in how they act. For me it's both a strength and a weakness of the book.The small community of Hayling Island is well portrayed and Halahmy has a good eye and ear for the school scenes, which feel very believable.All in all this is a well written, thought-provoking book with a strong contemporary feel that I'd recommend to any YA reader interested in a good story.

This is an enthralling book about Alix, a teenage girl who finds an asylum-seeker washed up on the beach, and with the help of her friend, a refugee from the same country, strives to keep him safe from the authorities who will send him back to almost certain torture or death. In the process of the story she finds out, sometimes to her surprise, who she can trust and who she cannot because of the racist views they hold. But despite the gravity of the subject matter, this book is written with a light touch so it is a real page-turner, and we entirely identify with Alix and will her to succeed.

My son will be reading the book in the school holidays as he would have more time to absorb the book.

Teenage Alix finds her whole belief system challenged when new boy Samir joins her school. Until she got to know him, refugees and assylum seeker were only stories in the newspapers. But when they rescue a drowning man who turns out to by an illegal immigrant, it all gets very real indeed. ALix soon realises that her tight knit community is hostile to outsiders and there is prejudice everywhere.I think this is a great book to make teenagers sit up and think about who their classmates really are. Particularly in multi-cultural inner city areas. And it manages to be a really exciting story at the same time. (Please sort the spacing out for the e-book version though as without breaks it makes it a hard read.)

I am writing this as an adult who has just read a book written for teenagers. Also, I used to live on Hayling Island where the book is set and of course I found this interesting to imagine myself in the various places on the Island. The book covers the subject of immigrants, in fact what can be perceived as illegal immigration. It covers the problem with sensitivity during a story set around a young girl, her friends and a young Iraqi friend and his family. It is a gripping story and it also covers the relationships in families. It is a good read.