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

[regshoe]

That sounds like an enjoyably random alternate history! What is the plot about, if not bizarre Hanoverians?

[skygiants]

This is definitely the most standard of Aiken's books in this series -- from this point on things take a fairly rapid turn for the increasingly bizarre and by the fourth or fifth they're in wonderfully absurd territory. It's about the journey!

[luzula]

It's about a robust and intrepid girl called Bonnie (her father indulgently says "girls will be girls!" at her antics) and her more timid cousin Sylvia. They are involved in adventures when Bonnie's parents go away on a trip and an evil governess called Miss Slighcarp takes over the house.

[luzula]

Thanks! I'll definitely give the next one a chance.

[starshipfox]

This was an early novel of hers -- if not her first -- her books get significantly more weird as she goes on! I was never very impressed by Wolves, but I've really enjoyed some of her later books.

[nnozomi]

I think it's the book after this where Dido Twite first appears, and runs away with the series completely (well-deserved too). I haven't read this series in years (no physical copies on hand right now), but I remember adoring The Stolen Lake in particular. WEIRD WEIRD WEIRD but fascinating.

[rachelmanija]

That's in the sequels.

[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.

[regshoe]

Aww, that sounds a good set-up for adventures—and the promise of more weirdness in later books is also good :D *adds to to-read list*

[luzula]

I did enjoy it, but I'm looking forward towards more weird!

[luzula]

Thanks, I'll keep reading and see where it goes. : )

[luzula]

I'll keep reading, then!

[luzula]

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