Bücher von Joan Aiken

Als ihre Eltern eine lange Seereise antreten, bleibt Bonnie gemeinsam mit ihrer Cousine Sylvia auf Willoughby Chase zurück. Es ist der härteste Winter seit Jahren, Schneestürme toben, nachts heulen die Wölfe, aber im Schloss fühlen sich die Mädchen geborgen. Miss Slighcarp, eine entfernte Verwandte, soll auf die beiden aufpassen, doch die hat nichts anderes im Sinn, als das Schloss und all seine Reichtümer an sich zu reißen. Sie entlässt die Dienerschaft, verkauft die Möbel, trägt sogar die Kleider von Bonnies Mutter. Und es kommt noch schlimmer: Eines Tages eröffnet sie Bonnie, ihre Eltern seien bei einem Schiffsunglück ums Leben gekommen, und schickt beide Mädchen in ein Waisenhaus. Die Zustände dort sind fürchterlich. Nicht einmal genug zu essen gibt es. Bonnie und Sylvia gelingt die Flucht. Gemeinsam mit dem Gänsehirten Simon machen sie sich auf den Weg nach London zu Sylvias Tante Jane. Werden sie je wieder nach Willoughby Chase zurückkehren können?

Now, back in print, the engaging and suspenseful British fantasy by one of England's most imaginative storytellers. Lucas Bell is lonely and miserable at Midnight Court, a vast, brooding house owned by his intolerable guardian, Sir Randolph Grimsby. When a mysterious carriage brings a visitor to the house, Lucas hopes he's found a friend at last. But the newcomer, Anna Marie, is unfriendly and spoiled-and French. Just when Lucas thinks things can't get any worse, disastrous circumstances force him and Anna Marie, parentless and penniless, into the dark and unfriendly streets of Blastburn.

When Dido Twite sets foot back on English soil, more mischief awaits. As her friend Captain Hughes recovers from a carriage accident, Dido stays at the Dogkennel Cottages and meets the odd inhabitants of Tegleaze Manor: strange old Lady Tegleaze, her nephew, Tobit, and his wizened, witchy nurse, Sannie. Soon suspicious things happen. A priceless miniature is stolen. Tobit is framed and then kidnapped. A twin sister is found. And when Dido catches a glimpse of her rascally father in Petworth, she is sure she’s in the midst of another Hanoverian plot. Can she get to London to warn the king and save St. Paul's Cathedral from sliding into the Thames?

Readers who have followed Dido Twite’s escapades in BLACK HEARTS IN BATTERSEA and NIGHTBIRDS ON NANTUCKET will welcome her return in her wildest adventure yet. Now back in print, THE CUCKOO TREE and THE STOLEN LAKE continue the Wolves Chronicles, the exhilarating and imaginative series that stemmed from Joan Aiken’s classic THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE. A dazzling piece of dramatic, snowballing adventure, THE STOLEN LAKE is full of fantastical details: revolving palaces, witches who are also court dressmakers, an apocalyptic volcanic eruption, and an infernal country with a noticeable lack of female children. On her way back to London aboard the British man-of-war Thrush, twelve-year-old Dido Twite finds herself and the crew summoned to the aid of the tyrannical queen of New Cumbria. A neighboring king has stolen the queen’s lake and is holding it for ransom, and it’s up to Dido and the crew to face fire, flood, execution, and wild beasts to get the lake back — or else.

In addressing "the way to write for children," Joan Aiken starts at the beginning. Is writing a children's book as simple as it looks? Do you want to write for children or about them? Do you want to write a picture book for young children, a book for new readers, or a chapter book for preteens? Why is Beatrix Potter so beloved? E. Nesbit? A. A. Milne? Maurice Sendak?After more than fifteen years as a writing shelf classic, The Way to Write for Children has been completely revised and updated. From analysis of what makes the best-loved children's books so successful, to where to look for inspiration, to practical advice on how to structure a plot, Aiken delivers an extremely useful book for anyone who's ever considered writing a children's book.

A child in danger, an isolated house - and a killer on the loose... 'Don't miss ... guaranteed unputdownable' Observer

Clytie Churchill's life has been guided by love and death, but there's a mystery from her past that she is forced to revisit before she can move on in this satisfying romantic suspense novel from award winning author Joan Aiken.

An ingenious continuation of one of Jane Austen's intriguing unfinished novels, The Watsons.