“It was dusk, winter dusk – snow lay white and shining over the pleated hills…” Sound familiar? The opening lines of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase could almost describe a scene from Joan Aiken’s first adult novel, The Silence of Herondale published just two years after her most famous children’s classic. The novel draws on […]
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By: Lizza Aiken,
on 12/11/2014
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By: Lizza Aiken,
on 6/24/2014
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By: Lizza Aiken,
on 5/22/2014
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0 Comments on Joan Aiken for Grown Ups…! as of 12/11/2014 11:02:00 AM
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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 […]
10 Comments on How to keep the Reader on the edge of his Seat…, last added: 6/25/2014
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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? […]
7 Comments on Writer’s Block….. no joke!, last added: 5/26/2014
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Liz — i left a comment, i think, but to repeat —
you have wonderful observations on what turned your mother on!
xoxo
Hilary
“embroiled in a series of events not of their own making”: very Hitchcockian, but this makes it much easier for us (her happy readers) to get caught up in the stories.
Those yellow jackets — I even think I’ve got a couple of those on my shelves– very nostalgic, but I don’t suppose those Orion reprints will feature these!
A wonderful evocation of what makes us fans of Joan, Lizza, thanks! What a shame, as Lizzie points out in her recent post, that there’s no obvious sign of her connections with Rye. Anything in Petworth?
Just found this Hilary, so nice to know you are following, and lovely that you recognise her!
Yes that’s the joy of Gothics perhaps? Just enjoyed your Rye post – Joan’s second novel ‘The Fortune Hunters’ is also set there, and makes it very gothic indeed! And you have reminded me to look out the other Rye novel, ‘The Haunting of Lamb House’ – the joy of Joan indeed, always another to re-discover!
In fact Joan made use of many of her own houses, and set a historical trilogy in and around her house, The Hermitage in Petworth – The Smile of the Stranger, The Weeping Ash and The Girl from Paris http://www.joanaiken.com/pages/period_novels.html – plus there’s a very spooky YA ‘Return to Harken House’ which describes a summer re-visiting Rye, and that lonely haunted house, just before the outbreak of WW11 when her father had forgotten she was expected…
You shouldn’t have asked! I can keep you busy with a TBR list to die for…
And lovely Sussex tribute ‘The Cuckoo Tree’ as Dido is returning to Joan’s Petworth roots!
OK, so now I have a quest: any book by JA on Lamb House is a must read. I can see that your mother’s collected works will keep me occupied for decades to come.
Not a trace…except in her writing of course, see below!
Yes, loved ‘The Cuckoo Tree’! Am I right in thinking that the grand house (forgotten the name at the moment) opposite Dog Kennel Cottages is based on Petworth House? Google Earth and Google maps suggest there is no mansion on that scale there…
Tegleaze, she probably upgraded the farm into a Manor! Quite a few of those around that part of Sussex…