Naomi Milliner (Children's Literature)
Nothing in my miserable life could possibly be as bad as what is about to happen, Ludlow Fitch declares as his teeth are about to be removed solely to subsidize his parents’ greed. Ludlow fights back and escapes, sneaking a ride out of town. The carriage belongs to a wealthy tyrant named Jeremiah Ratchet, who is hated and feared by the entire village. When the carriage stops, Ludlow meets a mysterious but friendly man named Joe, who is also new to town. Joe gives Ludlow food, shelter and a job transcribing townspeople’s secrets. The first secret belongs to the gravedigger, Obadiah. Like most of his fellow townspeople, Obadiah owes impossible amounts of money to Jeremiah. Unable to get out of debt, he has been forced to dig up the bodies he has recently buried, so that Jeremiah can sell them to medical schools. When Obadiah tries to refuse, Jeremiah blackmail him. (After all, bodysnatching is punishable by death.) After unburdening his secret, Obadiah receives both a clean conscience and enough money to finally clear his debt with Jeremiah. And so it goes from one villager after another: Joe pays for each secret, and the villagers are able to pay Jeremiah. It seems like a win-win situation, until suddenly the townspeople grow suspicious of Joe. They turn on him and Ludlow … Higgins’ debut novel is a page-turning mystery brimming with humor and originality. The ending hints of a sequel, which is good news for anyone lucky enough to read this unusual and absorbing book. 2007, Feiwel & Friends/Holtzbrinck Publishers, $14.95. Ages 11 to 14.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2007 (Vol. 75, No. 18))
Higgins's Dickensian debut features an opening scene that is both literally and figuratively gripping, plus an intriguing premiseùbut only about a short story's worth of plot, and that's riddled with gaps of logic. He frames his tale as chapters from two old volumes somehow stored in a wooden leg, plus frequent departures into other points of view to fill in gaps. It alternates between memoirs of young Ludlow Fitch, a lad who narrowly escapes his gin-soaked parents' attempt to have his teeth extracted for sale and then falls in with itinerant pawnbroker/psychotherapist Joe Zabbidou, and the confessions of several patientsùmost involving murders or other dark deedsùas recorded in Zabbidou's titular tome. Having engineered an ugly end for a particularly despicable villain, Zabbidou ultimately takes Fitch to a huge underground library where the ledger of confessions is shelved with thousands of others (how it came to be in that leg remains unexplained), and Fitch gets a clean, new one of his very own. Though set in an alternate universe, the tale closes with historical notes on the Victorian-style horrors mentioned or committed. The parts don't hang together at all, but readers may enjoy many of them individually. 2007, Feiwel & Friends/Holtzbrinck, 288p, $14.95. Category: Fantasy. Ages 11 to 13. © 2007 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Claire Rosser (KLIATT Review, November 2007 (Vol. 41, No. 6))
This first novel by a graduate of the University of Dublin is set in an isolated village sometime in the past. It reads a bit like a fairy tale. The main character, Ludlow Fitch, is a street-wise child in something like the worst situation Charles Dickens could imagine. As the story begins, Ludlow’s horrific parents are trying to extract his teeth to sell so they can buy some more gin. Ludlow escapes to a village outside of town, a place tyrannized by a greedy landlord. Fortunately, he is sheltered by another newcomer, a pawnbroker who buys secrets and anything else people might want to be rid of. Ludlow’s skills as a writer improve as the kindly pawnbroker hires him to write people’s stories down in The Black Book of Secrets. The plot becomes complicated as the town tyrant gets the punishment he deserves and Ludlow finds his life’s work. Higgins’s fine writing and wry tale will charm readers who are ready for the unusual. In a weird way, this is like the film Chocolat, in that a stranger enters a town and changes the lives there forever, all from the confines of a small shop, this time a pawnbroker’s place. Category: Hardcover Fiction. KLIATT Codes: J--Recommended for junior high school students. 2007, Holtzbrinck, Feiwel and Friends, 273p., $14.95. Ages 12 to 15.

Susan Raben (Library Media Connection, April/May 2008)
Higgins has written a dark, sophisticated, and deeply satisfying gothic novel for middle school and young adult audiences. In true Dickens fashion, Ludlow Fitch, a young victim of alcoholic parental abuse, escapes to a small village and becomes the assistant to Joe Zabbidou, the Secret Pawnbroker. The people of the village are being tormented by their miserly landlord and by the many dark, villainous secrets of their own past. Zabbidou offers to purchase their secrets for a large sum of money and has Ludlow record them in a black book. The reader never knows who Joe really is and where he gets his power from, but this adds to the overall suspense. The book is broken into chapters, each dealing with a different townsperson's nightmare or that serve to move the story forward. Higgins interjects some humor in this dark tale including the names she has given some characters: Gumbroot the dentist, Cleaver the butcher, and Leafbinder the bookseller. With outstanding character development, suspenseful plot, and historical setting, the reader can only hope that we will be allowed to meet up again with Joe and Ludlow in the near future. Highly Recommended. 2008, Feiwel and Friends (Holtzbrinck Publishers), 288pp., $14.95 hc.. Ages 11 up.

Elizabeth Bush (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, November 2007 (Vol. 61, No. 3))
Mysterious Joe Zabbidou arrives in the nineteenth-century town of Pavus Pargus and immediately makes an enemy of Jeremiah Ratchett, the town’s wealthiest citizen, who has most of the locals in his debt. Not only does Zabbidou have what seems to be a bottomless fund of cash to keep him independent, he also sets up a strange business—a pawnshop for burdensome secrets, where townsfolk can relieve their consciences and collect gold coins for their secrets, coins which they then use to pay their way out of debt to Ratchett. Ludlow Fitch, a young runaway from an abusive home, becomes Zabbidou’s scribe, diligently recording the stories of how moments of weakness or desperation led the tellers into their devil’s deals with Ratchett. These tales alternate with Ludlow’s narration and Higgins’ own fictionalized “recreation” of events to disclose how Ratchett finally receives his just deserts and Ludlow, a onetime pickpocket, becomes apprentice to Zabbidou, training to be the next in a long line of Secret Pawnbrokers. The plotting is devious, the pacing quick, and the confessions intriguing; readers can hope that Higgins’ atmospheric debut novel is an omen of more good things to come Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2007, Feiwel, 288p.; Reviewed from galleys, $14.95. Grades 5-9.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2008)
After his parents try to sell his teeth (right out of his mouth!), Ludlow Fitch runs away. Apprenticed to eccentric Joe Zabbidou, Ludlow learns a trade: pawnbroker of secrets. Passages alternate between Ludlow's memoirs and third-person accounts, and the story's resolution collects all the threads. Strongly seasoned with details of nineteenth-century oddities, the story abounds with puzzles, quirks, and enticing disclosures. Category: Intermediate Fiction. 2007, Feiwel, 273pp, 14.95. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.

Rachelle Bilz (VOYA, August 2007 (Vol. 30, No 3))
Raised by his drunken, avaricious parents to be a pickpocket, Ludlow Fitch manages to run away on the night that Ma and Pa try to sell his teeth. After a mad chase through the City, Ludlow escapes to the mountain village of Pagus Parvus by desperately clinging to the back of a carriage. Thus begins an intriguing blend of adventure and historical fiction spiced with a light touch of the fantastic. Arriving in Pargus Parvus late at night, Ludlow spies a lone man walking in the bitter cold and follows him to an abandoned shop. Ludlow, caught peeking through the window, is invited inside by Joe Zabbidou who describes himself as "the Secret Pawnbroker." Although Ludlow has no idea what it might mean, he accepts Joe's offer of a job as his apprentice. The villagers begin bringing items to sell and some get specially invited back for a midnight appointment. With Ludlow acting as scribe, the citizens of Pagus Parvus sell their secrets to Joe, confessing evil deeds and nasty affairs. The villagers initially like Joe but are turned against him by nasty Jeremiah Ratchet, the wealthiest man in town. Higgins creates a fascinating novel peopled with colorful characters and imbued with clever plot twists. The reader's interest is sustained throughout the book, and the novel's climax is both excellent and surprising. This book appears to be the first in a series, good news for junior and senior high students who appreciate a well-spun tale. VOYA CODES: 5Q 4P J S (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2007, Fiewel & Friends/Holtzbrinck, 288p., $14.95. Ages 12 to 18.

Sarah Hill (VOYA, February 2008 (Vol. 30, No. 6))
Ludlow Fitch is a young city boy who finally escapes his thieving, lowlife parents and arrives at a small, mountain-top village to begin a new life. Fitch becomes the scribe for a pawnbroker of secrets-Joe Zabbidou buys secrets. In doing so, Joe and Fitch find out everything about the insular world of Pagus Parvus. In a world of Resurrectionists, chimneysweeps, and evil landlords, Fitch finds safety, magic, and quiet happiness with his new master. Higgins writes her debut novel as if she found Fitch's memoirs and Zabbidou's Black Book of Secrets, and the device works. Fitch is the classic Dickensian adolescent boy, who is raised by horrible parents and must choose a better, more honest life. By adding the villager's tales in the Black Book, Higgins creates fascinating characters who add depth to the plot. The author should have saved the last few chapters for a sequel-the end wrapped up too nicely. One chapter does not seem to fit with the rest of the novel, with a little too much fantasy thrown in when the rest of the book is almost a historical fiction novel with incredible characters. The book has beautiful black-edged pages, and if it were not for the illustration of the young boy on the cover, the spooky cover would draw in older readers. VOYA CODES: 4Q 4P M J (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2007, Feiwel and Friends/Holtzbrinck, 288p., $14.95. Ages 11 to 15.