The valley of lost secrets by Lesley Parr

Main characters: (James) Jimmy Travers, (Ronald) Ronnie Travers, Florence Campbell, Alun Thomas, and Gwen Thomas.

From the back of the book: "This book is a mesmerising mystery about bravery and brotherhood from an outstanding new voice."

Audrey says, "I like this book because it is a wartime mystery; keeping you reading until the very end.

Jimmy and his brother were evacuated off into a small village in Wales called Llanbryn, and have two guardians looking after them called Gwen and Alun Thomas. Alun is a collier (a miner) who mines coal and Gwen doesn't have a job but she goes to chapel.

A girl, Florence, who is Jimmy’s age that was coming from the same school and goes to live in a shop with people called Ieuan (Yiyuan) and Phyliss. She used to be an absolute mess, with nits in her hair, bruises all over, and the like. This was because her family was poor and cruel. They beat her every day even if she did the slightest mistake. These kind souls who looked after her cleaned her up.

Yiyuan takes Jimmy, Ronnie, and Florence to see a foxhole. Jimmy soon then gets angry with Florence (reasons told in the book) and runs off. He then goes back home to have lunch (which, in Wales, is called dinner). After he finishes, he goes off, and instead of going right as they went to see the foxhole, he goes left. He travels up a hill and finds a lonely-looking tree. A wych elm to be precise. Jimmy finds a skull in a tree and soon Ronnie finds out. Before long, Florence finds out, goes into the hollow, and discovers that there are more bones. A whole body of them. But who is this innocent person?"

Also by the same author: When the war came home. Recommendation: Tom’s Midnight Garden by Phillipa Pearce