The Silence of Herondale was Joan Aiken’s first thriller, published in 1964, and set the style, if not the form, for another dozen or so adult novels which were to follow, alternating with her now better known children’s books. Initially published by Gollancz in their famous Yellow Jacket editions, the books were covered in […]
Joan Aiken, best known for writing her classic, almost Dickensian novel, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, has always seemed ultimately English, despite the fact that she had been born to an American father, the Pulitzer prize winning poet Conrad Aiken, and a Canadian mother. The family, with her older brother and sister, who […]
Joan Aiken, best known for writing her classic, almost Dickensian novel, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, has always seemed ultimately English, despite the fact that she had been born to an American father, the Pulitzer prize winning poet Conrad Aiken, and a Canadian mother. The family, with her older brother and sister, who […]
Wishes have been at at the heart of story telling for as long as there have been stories…they are in themselves the first breath of the creative imagination that introduces a new life, or a fantastic world, or they can be the dangerous stirring of unease, the first creak of discontent that creates a landslide […]
Wishes have been at at the heart of story telling for as long as there have been stories…they are in themselves the seed of the creative impulse that imagines a new life, or a whole new world – or they can be the dangerous stirring of unease, the first creak of discontent that creates a […]
Joan Aiken produced some beautiful pastel drawings while mulling over her plots, you can see some of them on the website, but this little doodle on the back of an envelope suggests a rather different, very un-fertile state of mind, brought about by the distractions and pressures of daily life (Gas in barn? […]
Joan Aiken produced some beautiful pastel drawings while mulling over her plots, you can see some of them on the website, but this little doodle on the back of an envelope suggests a rather different, very un-fertile state of mind, brought about by the distractions and pressures of daily life (Gas in barn? […]
One of the most highly praised of Joan Aiken’s historical melodramas is now being republished to celebrate the book’s 40th anniversary. The story of Midnight Court, and two of Aiken’s most unfortunate orphans, the doubly disinherited Lucas and Anna-Marie, was hailed variously as “the stuff of nightmares,” but also as a deeply moving portrayal of […]
One of the most highly praised of Joan Aiken’s historical melodramas is now being republished to celebrate the book’s 40th anniversary. The story of Midnight Court, and two of Aiken’s most unfortunate orphans, the doubly disinherited Lucas and Anna-Marie, was hailed variously as “the stuff of nightmares,” but also as a deeply moving portrayal of […]
It is not surprising that Dido Twite is such an enduring heroine, her very survival was a piece of luck, or perhaps was even engendered by her own strongest character trait – she never gave up hope. Joan Aiken has admitted that she had imagined Dido drowning at the end of Black Hearts […]
You might imagine that Joan Aiken’s famous writer father, Conrad Aiken, would have been her most formative literary influence, or even her stepfather, British author Martin Armstrong. Hardly ever mentioned, but of huge importance in the development not only of Joan’s writing but of her whole character and imagination, is her mother, Jessie […]
Unfortunately for Mortimer, when Great Aunt Olwen comes to stay, it means just one thing… Spring Cleaning… Mortimer has other ideas and makes a determined break for freedom…much chaos ensues, but Great Aunt Olwen has never been defeated yet… “If there had been a prize going for the most miserable bird in Rumbury Town, Mortimer […]
Reading is one of the easiest ways you have of empathising with another person, a way of being alone with them when they are alone; it is a way of taking time off from your own preoccupations, and entering another mind, another world. Once you have experienced this, it is almost like making a friend, […]
We have just been saying goodbye to an old family home, where my Grandparents used to live, and where my mother Joan Aiken spent most of her childhood before she went away to school at the age of twelve. During her lifetime she had the good fortune to be able to go back there […]
Here is the first opportunity to see Russ Tunney’s brilliant adaptation of Joan Aiken’s The Wolves of Willoughby Chase live on stage since it was published as a Nick Hern playscript earlier this year. Originally performed by a cast of five unbelievably quick change artists for a very successful tour around Southern England by […]
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase is a modern classic which for fifty years has thrilled and delighted readers all over the world, but the book itself has a story almost as astonishing as the adventures of its two desperate orphan heroines – this was a book that nearly didn’t get written! It all began one […]
This time of year always makes me think of Joan saying “Just because I’m raking leaves doesn’t mean I’m not thinking” - or plotting maybe? Or remembering lines from a favourite poem like Hopkins’ Spring and Fall - “where worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie…” Certainly all these moments of experience or memory were turned to […]
A sister played a more important role than a romantic hero in Jane Austen’s own life; Cassandra was her lifelong confidante, and literary consultant, and after Jane’s death took charge of her reputation and legacy even to the extent of burning many of her sister’s letters. Perhaps because of this relationship, sisters are of supreme […]
Jan Pienkowski’s vision & Joan Aiken’s story ‘An Ill Wind’ from ‘A Foot in the Grave’ Today sees the publication of an elegant new edition of Joan Aiken and Jan Pienkowski’s ghostly collaboration A Foot in The Grave is coming out just in time for Hallowe’en… for those who enjoy all things haunting and mysterious […]
Joan’s answer to this was that ‘One needs to be always on the lookout - It is a case of selection of suitable ingredients out of the mass that flows past every day – things said by people, overheard conversations, things read in the papers, heard on the news, seen in the street…’ She […]
It is great news that “The Wolves of Willoughby Chase” which is currently celebrating its 50th birthday with three new editions and a new audio read by Joan’s daughter Lizza, has been chosen for this year’s Summer Reading Challenge – the theme is “Creepy Houses” and the great house of Willoughby Chase is certainly a […]
One of Joan Aiken’s pastel drawings – mushrooms ready for supper “Just because I’m sweeping leaves doesn’t mean I’m not thinking,” she would say – or perhaps she would be drawing a picture of mushrooms, or staking runner beans, or making Rowan jelly or sewing hessian curtains…. the activities were endless. She might be gardening, […]
One of Joan Aiken’s pastel drawings – mushrooms ready for supper “Just because I’m sweeping leaves doesn’t mean I’m not thinking,” she would say – or perhaps she would be drawing a picture of mushrooms, or staking runner beans, or making Rowan jelly or sewing hessian curtains…. the activities were endless. She might be gardening, […]
The delightful Charles Schlessiger of Brandt & Hochman, who is celebrating his 8Oth Birthday on July 25th (hopefully not at the office!) has been Joan Aiken’s agent for 50 years. But as Lewis Nichols noted in the New York Times in 1963, in an article accompanied by this comic cartoon – she was not the […]
A story can be the best companion, if you are a listener. If from childhood you had the good luck, the time, the solitude and the books to take you away, to transport you to a place more real than the one you lived in, you had a gift, a means of escape. You also […]
Oh, that’s great news! I’ve got an unproofed US copy with some typos and American spellings which, though I loved reading it, has partly dissuaded me from a speedy re-read. Is there a publication date and will it be HB or pb?
Waiting for final details, but just lovely they are celebrating so publicly already! Yes I need to check through the US version – I have had horrified reports about US incongruities in an English village…but also coming is The Kingdom and the Cave, so long out of print, and a chance to do a new story collection – hooray!
Thank you for ongoing cheerleading, you are a star!
It’s a pleasure — every little bit helps, to coin a phrase. Also looking forward to the other two (re)issues!