Recent reading

[luzula]

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken (1962)
This was a quite enjoyable children's adventure! But, having been promised alternate history and bizarre Hanoverian plots, I do feel a bit cheated--maybe those bits are in the sequels? The only really bizarre thing in this book is the unexplained presence of packs of supernaturally dangerous wolves in 19th century Britain (how do ordinary people and their livestock survive, I wonder? surely they don't all live in caves with geese like Simon?). Also, "Miss Slighcarp" is a delightful name for a villain.

Comments

[garonne]

I love this series! Though the Wolves of Willoughby Chase is one of the more forgettable ones, and as far as I remember it doesn't contain the characters (Dido Twite!) and the unique weird atmosphere that makes the later books so memorable. (Nor, as you say, does it contain the alternate history and Hanoverian plots that play a big role in the later books--particularly Black Hearts in Battersea, I think).

It's been fifteen or twenty years since I read these books, but they made such a big impression on me that stuff in other novels often reminds me of them, and I think 'gosh, I should really read them again.' I feel like they would stand up pretty well to re-reading as an adult, unlike many children's series.

[garonne]

P.s. my favourites are Black Hearts in Battersea and The Stolen Lake.

[luzula]

Oh, cool, I'm glad you endorse them! I'll definitely keep reading and see where they go.