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Joan Aiken (1924 - 2004) spent part of her childhood living in a haunted house. After leaving school, she worked at the BBC, the United Nations, and in the editorial department of a magazine. All this time, she had been writing stories and after her first major novel was published in 1961, Joan left her job to write full-time. She has now written almost 100 books for adults and children, Including the hugely popular The Wolves Of Willoughby Chase and Black Hearts In Battersea.
A wonderful adventure as two children flee from the yranny of their wicked guardian and bravely set out on the road to London. Miss Slighcarp is as chilling as her words sound and she is now in charge of Bonnie and Sylvia. How will they ever escape from her clutches? It would be hard in any circumstances but it is especially hard since the snow lies thick on the ground around Willoughby Chase and the wolves are snapping closer and closer. It’s scary enough, but Bonnie and Sylvia are a determined pair and nothing, not even the wolves are going to stop them from getting back to London and Aunt Jane. Helped on their way by Simon and the flock of geese he is taking to market, Bonnie and Sylvia’s journey is a thrilling adventure – and not for the faint hearted!
A wonderful adventure as two children flee from the yranny of their wicked guardian and bravely set out on the road to London. Miss Slighcarp is as chilling as her words sound and she is now in charge of Bonnie and Sylvia. How will they ever escape from her clutches? It would be hard in any circumstances but it is especially hard since the snow lies thick on the ground around Willoughby Chase and the wolves are snapping closer and closer. It’s scary enough, but Bonnie and Sylvia are a determined pair and nothing, not even the wolves are going to stop them from getting back to London and Aunt Jane. Helped on their way by Simon and the flock of geese he is taking to market, Bonnie and Sylvia’s journey is a thrilling adventure – and not for the faint hearted! This edition is part of the Vintage Children's Classics series which is aimed at and shaped by 8-12 year olds, and the adults in their lives. It is a broad, affordable selection of books that will inspire a life-long love of reading; these stories that have secured a place in the hearts of thousands. They are all unabridged. To view all the Vintage Children's Classics titles click here. They are books to be given as gifts, and passed down the generations. In addition, story hungry children often don't want the adventure to end, so why not take a look at the fully interactive website - World of Stories - which contains lots of extra material - the backstory: with quizzes, activities and fascinating facts about the books and their authors.
A wonderful adventure as two children flee from the yranny of their wicked guardian and bravely set out on the road to London. Miss Slighcarp is as chilling as her words sound and she is now in charge of Bonnie and Sylvia. How will they ever escape from her clutches? It would be hard in any circumstances but it is especially hard since the snow lies thick on the ground around Willoughby Chase and the wolves are snapping closer and closer. It’s scary enough, but Bonnie and Sylvia are a determined pair and nothing, not even the wolves are going to stop them from getting back to London and Aunt Jane. Helped on their way by Simon and the flock of geese he is taking to market, Bonnie and Sylvia’s journey is a thrilling adventure – and not for the faint hearted!
A favourite book chosen by Philip Pullman: "If Ransome was Mozart, Aiken was Rossini. Unforced effervescence."
A tale of adventure, attack, deceit, bravery, murder, abduction and high glory set in a small Welsh town. This book was also the winner of the prestigious Guardian fiction award. What Ali Sparkes, author of Dark Summer and also the Shapeshifter series says of the title and its author: JOAN AIKEN - Most people know Joan Aiken for The Wolves of Willoughby Chase but for me her best was The Whispering Mountain, featuring the wonderfully bookish Owen, unloved grandson of a Welsh museum curator, caught up in a dark plot involving an ancient harp, dodgy Cockneys, a girl with a pet hawk and a travelling poet – to say nothing of the school bullies he has to enlist to help save the day. Joan inspired me so much, I know my stories bear her mark! Sadly, this title is currently out of print so we’re unable to get a copy for you. However, you may be able to get one through second hand bookstores. To see Ali Sparkes’ 5 favourite children’s books click here
Strong, subversive heroine Juliana Paget is forced to flee from her Italian home during the French Revolution in the first of Joan Aiken's romantic regency adventures, The Smile of a Stranger.Escaping from the horrors of revolutionary France, seventeen year old Juliana embarks on a wild and dangerous journey, crossing the channel in a hot air balloon to the supposed safety of English soil. But what awaits her is far from harmless: an evil aunt, a dangerous prospective husband, and a threatening presence from her past . . . Aiken's plucky but disarmingly innocent heroine must learn to tell truth from fiction in this gripping romantic adventure.
Two intertwining adventures - one of English drama and one of Indian conflict - both meet at the Paget family home in the second of Joan Aiken's romantic regency adventures, The Weeping Ash. Aiken's earlier heroine Juliana Paget kindly lends The Hermitage Estate to her widowed cousin Thomas and his new wife Fanny - on one condition - that if their missing cousins arrive they must be welcomed in. Little does Juliana know that cousin Thomas is an abusive tyrant who torments his stoic wife, entrapping her in the beautiful Paget house. Thousands of miles away in India, twin Paget cousins Scylla, governess to the old Maharaja's family, and her poet brother Cal are fleeing for their lives with the orphaned royal heir. They must survive a perilous journey - assisted by the dashing Colonel Cameron - across Kafiristan, Afghanistan, Persia, and Turkey before finally arriving at The Hermitage Estate.But the adventure does not stop here. A dark and explosive confrontation awaits the Pagets as Aiken's two spirited heroines strive for independence in this thrilling romantic adventure.
Delphie Carteret is forced into a dangerous marriage of convenience in Joan Aiken's stunning regency drama, The Five Minute Marriage. Delphie has been disinherited from her family's life of luxury and wealth, and as her mother's health and wits deteriorate she has no choice but to seek help from distant relatives. However when she arrives at the family's grand house she discovers part of their fortune is rightfully hers, and the only way to obtain her inheritance is through a sham marriage to her cousin.Unknowingly Delphie has tangled herself in a web of family rivalry and deceit which goes back for generations. Other members of the family are not just in debt but in the Marshalsea - the debtors' prison described by Dickens. Forced to maintain the charade of her marriage, Delphie is finally drawn into a dramatic fight for her life, and a surprisingly romantic finale on the roof of the family mansion . . .Joan Aiken has woven together an enchanting plot of romance and rivalry that will grip readers till the very end. Fans of Georgette Heyer should definitely make this novel their next read.
Strong and independent Vahalla Montgomery, a heroine straight out of a Henry James novel, abandons her New York career as a journalist to search for her half-brother in Joan Aiken's gothic novel, Castle Barebane.Wishing to escape from her pretentious New York fiance, Valla is happy to have an excuse to travel to England, only to discover that her half-brother and his wife have disappeared from their London home - leaving their young two children all alone. Finding Victorian London a gloomy and sinister place, haunted by a series of Ripper style murders, Valla takes the children up to Scotland to a bleak family property known as Castle Barebane. In this Gothic ruin, perched on the edge of a cliff, the mystery surrounding her missing brother only gets darker, and more terrifying . . . This unforgettable tale of love, loss, and human nature is brought to life by Joan Aiken's vivid story-telling and gripping plot. If you love Virginia Andrews or Nicola Cornick, Joan Aiken should certainly be your next read.
Jane Austen gave life to the fictional Watson family in 1803, but sadly abandoned them five chapters in - now Joan Aiken completes their story in her ingenious novel, Emma Watson.Emma Watson has been brought up by her aunt in a wealthy and refined household, an educated lifestyle far removed from her widowed father and five siblings. So when her aunt enters into an imprudent second marriage, nineteen-year-old Emma is sent back home and must join her sisters in their pursuit of a husband . . .Aiken takes on the fate of Austen's characters with confidence and skill, flawlessly entwining themes of loss and love together in this stunning regency pastiche.
Jane Austen's Mansfield Park famously narrates the story of poor little Fanny Price sent to live with her mother's grander sisters - the Ward family. Written almost two centuries later, Joan Aiken's powerful sequel reverses the story and introduces us to The Youngest Miss Ward, Hatty, sent to fend for herself with the poor relations.Although creative, charismatic and witty, Hatty Ward lacks the beauty that her older sisters inherited and is left without a dowry to care for their ill mother once her sisters are married off. Sent to Portsmouth to live with her rumbustious uncle and cousins, Hatty turns her creative flair to poetry and believes she must become a governess, that is until handsome Lord Camber passes through town . . .With imagination and authenticity Joan Aiken captures the customs and language of Austen's England in this one of a kind sequel, revealing a subversive and unique heroine.
Two very different - yet physically identical - young ladies meet at a boarding school once attended by Jane Austen in Joan Aiken's engrossing historical novel, Deception.Self-righteous Louisa wants to escape her grand family life in Northumberland and become a missionary in India. Imaginative and quiet Alvey has no family and only longs for peaceful independence to complete her novel.So when Louisa suggests swapping identities it seems like the perfect plan: Alvey will have a peaceful country manor in which to write her book and Louisa will be free to voyage across the globe. But when Alvey becomes a beloved and indispensible member of her extraordinary new family, how will they view the return of the horrible Louisa?Joan Aiken weaves a complicated plot of deception and identity, peopled with strong female characters, in this unique historical romance.
Prize winning WOLVES CHRONICLES PREQUEL reissued in A Puffin Book - All 12 Wolves books now in print for the first time ever. In THE WHISPERING MOUNTAIN by Joan Aiken, the small town of Pennygaff, the legendary Harp of Teirtu is found - and lost again. For young Owen Hughes and his friend Arabis, it is the start of a hair-raising race to save the harp from sinister Lord Malyn. As they struggle to keep it out of his hands, they are plunged into a wild adventure involving murder, kidnapping, underground worlds, savage beasts, floods, avalanche, the mysterious children of the Pit - and above all, a man who will stop at nothing to get the harp back again. Winner of the 1969 Guardian Fiction Award.
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