Harriet and Will: The Secret Gold

Harriet and Will: The Secret Gold by Debra Clewers (Lilly Pilly Grace Publishing)

In July 2026, I released an updated version of my Middle-Grade time-slip historical fiction novel Harriet and the Secret Coins, originally released in 2019. Now renamed Harriet and Will: The Secret Gold, with fresh editing, shorter chapters, and a new cover, this adventure is set in NSW and Victoria.

While on a school gold rush excursion, 11-year-old Harriet Cooper and her best friend, Will Taylor, are drawn to an old red phone booth, restored to play stories of the goldfields in return for a historic coin. The phone booth appears in the museum grounds of each location the children visit. But they discover much more and end up time-travelling to each of the three Australian historical gold rush locations, gathering information for their upcoming school history project.

When Harriet discovers some old gold coins at one museum and a nugget at a gold mine museum site, she is excited. Both the coins and the nugget have been missing for over 100 years, and the gold would help to pay off her parents’ house. But a tough teacher and assistant principal may not allow her to keep both, believing she is not entitled to them.  Along the way, Harriet’s personal bully tries to block Harriet’s claims and keep the gold for herself.

With the assistance of their red dragon friend, Gruffyd, the two become involved in drama galore, from riots to threatening miners, tough teachers and more. It seems Harriet might lose her claim to ownership, and she and Will seek justice. Help comes in the form of a second protective dragon, who reminds Harriet that the gold nugget, called Da Jin Shi, is really her property now and something disastrous will befall anyone else who tries to claim it. 

Will Harriet get to keep the gold, or will it have to be returned to the sites where the coins and nugget were discovered?

The sites mentioned in the story are real locations, all of which my husband and I visited and researched. We had great fun researching at the time and learned a great deal of interesting historical facts along the way. The book has been shared in the current SCWBI Australia East newsletter.