Joan Aiken
Having had enough of life on board the ship that saved her from a watery grave, Dido Twite wants nothing more than to sail home to England. Instead, Captain Casket's ship lands in Nantucket, where Dido and the captain's daughter, Dutiful Penitence, are left in the care of Dutiful's sinister Aunt Tribulation. In Tribulation's farmhouse, life is unbearable. When mysterious men lurk about in the evening fog, the resourceful Dido rallies against their
...Dido Twite, a roving ambassador to the King of England, is on her way home to London when her friend Captain Hughes is injured in a stagecoach accident. When Dido seeks help, she encounters the odd inhabitants of Tegleaze Manor: strange old Lady Tegleaze, her nephew, Tobit, and his wizened, witchy nurse, Sannie....
12) The Stolen Lake
In this fantasy adventure, a young girl visits a land where birds carry off men, fish eat human flesh, and she must rescue a pilfered lake.
Readers who have followed Dido Twite’s escapades in Black Hearts in Battersea and Nightbirds on Nantucket will welcome her return in her wildest escapade yet.
Now back in print, The Cuckoo Tree and The Stolen Lake continue the Wolves Chronicles, the exhilarating
In this hilarious classic adventure, an innocent boy and his friends must stop a plot to topple the King of England.
Simon, the foundling from The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, arrives in London to meet an old friend and pursue the study of painting. Instead he finds himself unwittingly in the middle of a wicked crew’s fiendish caper to overthrow the good King James and the Duke and Duchess of Battersea. With the help of
Winner of the Guardian Prize for Fiction
In the small town of Pennygaff, where Owen has been sent to live after his mother's death, a legendary golden harp has been found. Knowing of the prophesy of the Harp of Teirtu, Owen must prevent the magic harp from falling into the evil clutches of its reputed owner, the sinister and diabolical Lord Mayln. But it won't be easy. Owen and his friend Arabis are plunged into a hair-raising adventure
From a mysterious traveller who leaves an injured horse with a stranger, to a garden plant that slowly creeps into a house during a thunderstorm and a man who comes across two angry forces in the middle of a forest, this chilling collection of stories will have readers jumping at bumps in the night.
Much-loved author Joan...
16) Dangerous Games
Sailing the high seas in pursuit of Lord Herodsfoot, roving ambassador to the ageing King James III, Dido Twite’s search has led her to the remote South Sea island of Aratu. She arrives with a new friend she made en route, the enigmatic Dr. Talisman, who is returning to the isle after many...
When Is Twite and her cousin, Arun, return to Cold Shoulder Road in Folkestone after their astonishing adventures in the North, the town is deserted and Arun’s mother is missing. Some say she took off with the sect Arun was raised in before he ran away. Known as the Silent Folk,...
18) Dido and Pa
Dido Twite is finally back in London and reunited with her old friend Simon, now the Duke of Battersea and a favorite of King Richard. But no sooner does Dido start to settle in than her rascally father, Abednago, appears and drags her off into the night.
Soon Dido finds herself caught...
"In a singularly important publishing even, the first complete collection of Aiken's 24 beloved Armitage cycle of stories appears here for the first time. The family who dwells in and out of magical worlds transcends fantasy and enters the world of classic, entrancing literature. Belongs on every child's bookshelf. For all ages."
—Smithsonian Magazine Notable Books for Children 2008
"For sheer charm it's hard to beat
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