Vuokko Hurme: Ruby’s Secret, The Hues #1

What if you could move objects by willpower?

Author: Vuokko Hurme
Finnish original: Tiukun salaisuus (Värikkäät #1)
Publisher: S&S, 2020
Genre: children’s novel
Number of pages: 199 pp.
Reading material: Finnish original, English sample, English synopsis

Rights sold: Italy, Mimesis

Ruby’s family has a secret: they have wonderful powers of colour. The Hues are able to control the colours of their own possessions, and they can handle them and move them about by willpower. Ruby’s colour is red and her big sister Skye’s is blue, while their little brother Forrest is still looking for his colour and practising hard.

When the Hues, hiding their secret skills, move into the Gertrude Rinne condominium, something changes: Ruby no longer wants to be an eternal outsider. She wants to play in the yard with the other children. So she has to make an impression on her new friends–at all costs.

On top of all this, Ruby’s head is turned by a charming but mischievous girl named Liia. And what is the strange greyness that threatens not just the Hues but everyone else as well?

Ruby’s Secret is the first book of four about the Hues family. Reetta Niemensivu’s expressive line drawing illustrations complete the text with red finishing touches.

“Hurme has an amazing ability to create new worlds and bold, multi-dimensional characters.
– The Literary Lore Blog on the Rotation series

Also available:
The Many-Coloured Mansion, The Hues #2 (2021)
The Shadow Guest, The Hues # 3 (2022)
Danger at the Colour Spa, The Hues #4 (2022)

Upside Down, Rotation #1 (2017)
Right-Side Up, Rotation #2 (2018) 
About-Turn, Rotation #3 (2019)

About the author:
Vuokko Hurme