Published in paperback 2nd July 2026 by Penguin.
From the cover of the book:
One golden summer. One missing treasure. And a secret that binds two lives together.
Every year, Alice's father gives her a treasure. Then on the morning of her sixteenth birthday, her final gift vanishes - along with the fragile certainty of her world. Alice runs, towards New York City and away from the memories of that last summer at the orchard where she grew up.
Across the Atlantic, Tom has always felt that something is missing from his life. When he finds a long-forgotten letter, it leads him away from Sevenstones – the house at the heart of his family for generations – and towards a truth no one has ever fully told.
From post-war London to 1960s New York, Alice and Tom's stories become entwined. But will the secrets of their past bring them together, or break them apart?
***********
Every year Alice's father gives her a special gift on her birthday, after taking her for their traditional ice cream treat. Until the year she turns sixteen, when tragedy strikes, and Alice is unable to find her new treasure from the vague clues he gave her. Life is never the same after this moment, and eventually Alice escapes to New York City, leaving behind the painful memories of home and planning never to return.
In England, Tom's life is turned upside-down when he is taken from his father, and sent to live with his aunt and uncle in London. He has always felt something did not ring true about the story he has been told of his late mother. When his aunt leaves him a letter about what happened during the war at Sevenstones, the family estate, the revelation it contains send him to New York for answers.
Then, the two meet in New York, a city of great contradictions, as the Summer of Love boils over with anti-war protests, and their stories become entwined...
Beginning with a poignant prologue set in 2024, when Sevenstones is up for sale, this weaving epic is the opening instalment of a new family saga about the people connected with the house, and the treasures that found their way there.
The first part of the story follows Alice's upbringing in Orchard, Hudson Valley, where her parents are the custodians of and orchard owned by famous author Wilder Kynaston - until her father's death throws her life into disarray. Unable to find the final treasure he left her, Alice does her best to follow his mysterious clues about a place called Sevenstones and the advice to get to know Walder's eccentric and reclusive sister Teddy. But eventually, she is forced to flee her home, when a situation that is becoming increasingly difficult takes a dangerous turn.
The second part follows Tom as he moves from Scotland to London, and is immersed in a family that he knows little about. Feeling abandoned by his father, he is introduced to a new life, with new rules, and discovers Sevenstones - the place where so much of his family's past is centred. As he grows into a young man, he experiences loss and heartbreak, before heading to New York for the answers he is seeking - and a girl called Alice, who he once spoke to in a hurried phone call, on the day she escaped Orchard.
Then, one fateful day, the two meet in New York. They are drawn together, but there are obstacles to be overcome, questions to be answered in Orchard and at Sevenstones, and many miles more to be travelled in this story.
If you are looking for a fast moving, propulsive story, this is not it, despite the political turmoil and dramas that play out in the background. The excellent audio book, narrated by Emily Barber, was my way into all the attention Harriet gives to character-led loveliness in the story. She submerges you in themes of loss, gut-wrenching personal tragedy, disaffection, and injustice that lead you on to the meeting of its central characters, their search for purpose, and the healing they seek - before hooking you beautifully into the next book in the trilogy with jaw-dropping twists that left me breathless.
I honestly was not sure what to make of this book at the beginning, but the slow-burn build up to the final compelling swathes of the novel is absolutely worth every meandering moment, when the truth of what happened at Sevenstones during the war comes out. I came to love Alice and Tom, and all the emotional groundwork Harriet puts in to make this a stunning introduction the Sevenstones series. I found myself sobbing as the threads pulled together - especially in relation to Teddy. Keep the tissues handy, you will need them.
Wonderful stuff! I cannot wait for book two!
The Treasures is available to buy now in hardcover, paperback, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Penguin for sending me a view copy of this book.
About the author:
Harriet Evans is the author of thirteen bestselling novels, most recently The Beloved Girls, a Richard and Judy Book Club Selection and the Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller The Garden of Lost and Found, which won Good Housekeeping's Book of the Year. She lives in Bath with her family and writes full time, when not distracted by her children, other books, gardening, her jumpsuit collection and star-gazing.
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