PotsandPlots

The Golden Monkey Mystery is a prequel to a book I reviewed on GeekDad back in 2024, Secrets of the Snakestone. If memory serves, we were expecting a sequel, as Zélie returned to India in search of more information about the elusive stone.

Instead, while Piu Dasgupta does return to India, we leave Zélie behind and return to the 1880s to look at the stone’s origins and to pay homage to the trailblazing women of the time.

Growing Information:

Plant With: Children’s Fiction, Historical Fiction, India.

Grows Into: A story about plucky heroism, determination and the advent of female doctors in India.

Rating: Vibrant Annual 🌻🌻 (Check here for rating information.)

Available now from Nosy Crow. (Affiliate link)

The Review:

The Golden Monkey Mystery is an engaging read for children aged 8 upwards. Central character, Roma, is a precocious soul, using some complicated language, particularly in the area of herbal medicine. Younger readers might need the occasional bit of support, but Roma’s varied vocabulary is enticing for inquisitive souls.

Roma lives a solitary life, misunderstood at “Miss Oliphaunt’s School For Young Ladies” and virtually an orphan, she often finds herself alone. Roma’s father is never around; he’s always on important business. Her mother died during childbirth, unwilling to be seen by a male doctor. Roma wishes to study medicine so that “No other woman must die.” She is bright, inquisitive and able, but nobody believes she will realise her dream.

One day, she spots a rare golden monkey, thought to have mythical healing properties. She chases it into the jungle, determined to return it to its habitat in the Himalayas. Two problems with this course of action. One, the home of the Golden Monkey is rumoured to be hidden, and two, she’s becomes hoplessly lost.

Roma and her cat, Birala, embark upon a quest that will see her encounter local bandits, rub shoulders with two annoying English children and bring her into direct contact with the mysterious and cursed “Snake Stone.”

The Golden Monkey Mystery builds on Secrets of the Snakestone to create an even better story. Not only do we have the stone and its curse sitting over everything, there’s a neatly plotted adventure story, with evocative locations and memorable villains. The story arcs of the three children, Roma, Max and Arabella, are enjoyable and convincing too. Roma and cat Birala steal every scene they’re in.

In the author’s afterword, we learn that Roma is based on real people. Pioneers in their field, such as Kadambini Ganguly, the first woman to officially qualify as a doctor in British India. Roma’s love of nature and her interest in the healing properties of the plants around her add depth to the adventures and antics of the children in the story.

One other nice touch are the illustrations. The chapter headings have lovely paper-cut style borders, and peppered throughout are clever optical illusions that are based (according to the author’s note) on Victorian-style “topsy-turvey” pictures. I’m not sure you’d feel their absence if they weren’t there, but these details greatly add to the story’s charm.

I very much enjoyed reading The Golden Monkey Mystery. It’s excellent children’s fiction that entertains throughout, while also opening up readers to concepts, ideas and a host of words they may not otherwise encounter. With novels as strong as this, Dasgupta’s Snakestone is far from cursed.