What I want to write about here though is her sequence of eleven novels for children that began with The Wolves of Willoughby Chase in 1962 – page-turning adventure stories, set in a mostly historical past, with a sprinkling of the paranormal and a bucketful of brilliant characters. From her pen came a raft of books, including a handful of Jane Austen sequels, period romances, supernatural short stories and most things in between. Joan Aiken was the daughter of the American poet laureate Conrad Aiken and the Canadian writer Jessie MacDonald, and two of her siblings also wrote books, so writing clearly ran in the family. Simon, the foundling from The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, arrives in London to meet an old friend and pursue the study of painting. But how will they ever get Willoughby Chase free from the clutches of the evil Miss Slighcarp? A pack of wolves runs around the countryside trying to maul every human they see, and there are bleak and brutal scenes of an orphan work house straight out of darkest Dickens, to say nothing of rats, intense chase scenes, and cartoonishly evil bad ladies and men. With the help of Simon the gooseboy and his flock, they escape. THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE has enough disturbing gothic imagery to provide younger children with plenty of material for nightmares. The servants are dismissed, the furniture is sold, and Bonnie and Sylvia are sent to a prison-like orphan school. Wicked wolves threaten Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia when Bonnie’s parents depart Willoughby Chase for a sea voyage and leave them in the care of the cruel governess Miss Slighcarp.
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