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Apr. 3rd, 2009 02:12 pmDue to my lucky bookstore discoveries of two weeks ago, I have been rereading Joan Aiken's Wolves/Dido Twite books (is there a a consistent name for that series?), which I have not read since I was an extremely small thing and remembered almost nothing about.
Entirely unsurprising conclusion: THEY FILL ME WITH JOY. Joan Aiken, you are made of pseudo-Gothic crack, and I love you for it.
The first book, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, is probably the most well-known and the most standard: spunky young girl and her sweet cousin are misused by a villainous imposter governess who wishes to steal the family fortunes. Subsequent plot developments involve secret passages, cruel orphanages, slavering wolves, and a cheery Dickon-esque Yorkshire boy who herds geese. Even this relatively understated plot (by Aiken standards) features glorious moments like this: "Oh yes, we had quite a pleasant journey. A wolf jumped into our compartment last night, but Mr. Grimshaw - that gentleman - stabbed it to death and we moved into another compartment."
Black Hearts in Battersea doubles the Dickensian, and also the crack levels, following goose-herder and would-be-art student Simon (who has mysteriously lost all of his Yorkshire accent between the first and second book) as he uncovers a convoluted plot involving evil Hanoverian conspiracies, secret islands, kidnapped painters, long-lost heirs, and babies switched at birth! Mince pies, a giant balloon, and an army of art students also form crucial parts of the plot. My favorite exchange:
Comically French Art School Director: "Etudiants! Away, all, to Battersea Park, to sketch ze castle against ze sunset!"
Student: "I say, though, dear old sir, what about the wolves in the park? Know how it is when you're sketching - get absorbed - wolf sneaks up behind - poof, snip, snap, swallow! - and all your paint water's spilt."
Director: "Vraiment, zat is a difficulty. Aha! I have it. One student will paint, ze osser fight wiss ze wolves."
The other thing that makes this book fabulous are a pair of Bratty Yet Secretly Heroic(ish) Children! Well, okay, Dido is significantly more heroic than Justin, but they are also both amazingly bratty and cranky and demanding, and you know how I love realistic brats; they are much more fun than your standard YA Heroic Children. (Also awesome: the number of times people's lives are saved with embroidery.)
HOWEVER. Even the level of crack!plotting in Black Hearts in Battersea is thoroughly outmatched by Nightbirds on Nantucket, the sequel following Dido's adventures (sadly for me, she is signicantly less bratty when she has to be the Responsible One, but she remains awesome nonetheless!) I probably should not spoil the awesomely cracked-out Hanoverian plot that needs to be foiled this time - and believe me, it is AMAZINGLY cracked out - but really I feel I need tell you guys no more about the story than that it involves the EPIC TRUE ROMANCE between a sea captain and a GIANT PINK WHALE. OH JOAN AIKEN YES!!!
Excuse me, I have to go see if the next one has come in at the library yet.
Entirely unsurprising conclusion: THEY FILL ME WITH JOY. Joan Aiken, you are made of pseudo-Gothic crack, and I love you for it.
The first book, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, is probably the most well-known and the most standard: spunky young girl and her sweet cousin are misused by a villainous imposter governess who wishes to steal the family fortunes. Subsequent plot developments involve secret passages, cruel orphanages, slavering wolves, and a cheery Dickon-esque Yorkshire boy who herds geese. Even this relatively understated plot (by Aiken standards) features glorious moments like this: "Oh yes, we had quite a pleasant journey. A wolf jumped into our compartment last night, but Mr. Grimshaw - that gentleman - stabbed it to death and we moved into another compartment."
Black Hearts in Battersea doubles the Dickensian, and also the crack levels, following goose-herder and would-be-art student Simon (who has mysteriously lost all of his Yorkshire accent between the first and second book) as he uncovers a convoluted plot involving evil Hanoverian conspiracies, secret islands, kidnapped painters, long-lost heirs, and babies switched at birth! Mince pies, a giant balloon, and an army of art students also form crucial parts of the plot. My favorite exchange:
Comically French Art School Director: "Etudiants! Away, all, to Battersea Park, to sketch ze castle against ze sunset!"
Student: "I say, though, dear old sir, what about the wolves in the park? Know how it is when you're sketching - get absorbed - wolf sneaks up behind - poof, snip, snap, swallow! - and all your paint water's spilt."
Director: "Vraiment, zat is a difficulty. Aha! I have it. One student will paint, ze osser fight wiss ze wolves."
The other thing that makes this book fabulous are a pair of Bratty Yet Secretly Heroic(ish) Children! Well, okay, Dido is significantly more heroic than Justin, but they are also both amazingly bratty and cranky and demanding, and you know how I love realistic brats; they are much more fun than your standard YA Heroic Children. (Also awesome: the number of times people's lives are saved with embroidery.)
HOWEVER. Even the level of crack!plotting in Black Hearts in Battersea is thoroughly outmatched by Nightbirds on Nantucket, the sequel following Dido's adventures (sadly for me, she is signicantly less bratty when she has to be the Responsible One, but she remains awesome nonetheless!) I probably should not spoil the awesomely cracked-out Hanoverian plot that needs to be foiled this time - and believe me, it is AMAZINGLY cracked out - but really I feel I need tell you guys no more about the story than that it involves the EPIC TRUE ROMANCE between a sea captain and a GIANT PINK WHALE. OH JOAN AIKEN YES!!!
Excuse me, I have to go see if the next one has come in at the library yet.
