Showing results by author "Joan Aiken" in All Categories

A beautiful audio edition of Joan Aiken's captivating collection of much-loved modern fairy tales. 'This Is how it all began....' From 'A Necklace of Raindrops' to 'The Patchwork Quilt', here are eight classic stories to treasure and enjoy. Beginning and ending with a birthday, this spell-binding collection conjures up a world filled with magic, where wishes can come true.

One of the finest storytellers of her time, Joan Aiken wrote over 100 books for both adults and children. Among her best-known works are the 'Wolves Chronicles', a sequence of novels set in an alternate 19th-century England ruled by Stuart kings. Included here are three tales from that magical, wolf-infested world - The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Black Hearts in Battersea and The Story of Is.

Wicked wolves and a grim governess threaten Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia when Bonnie's parents leave Willoughby Chase for a sea voyage. Left in the care of the cruel Miss Slighcarp, the girls can hardly believe what is happening to their once happy home. The servants are dismissed, the furniture is sold, and Bonnie and Sylvia are sent to a prison-like orphan school. It seems as if the endless hours of drudgery will never cease.

Young Arabel's life is changed forever when her father, a taxi driver, brings home an injured bird he finds in the street. This wacky raven eats everything in sight, answers the telephone by squawking "Nevermore!", and causes chaos wherever he goes - but Arabel loves her new feathered friend, whom she names Mortimer.

Martha works for an advertising agency, filming a TV commercial on location on the stunning Cornish coast. The client is the eccentric owner of a chemicals company that has invented a new, almost irresistible perfume, and Martha is in charge of shooting the romantic ads - unfortunately starring his beautiful but highly manipulative daughter-in-law. Before long, Martha finds herself embroiled in the conspiracy over the perfume's true origin.

We are taken to peculiar lands where all the magical things that only seem to happen in dreams really do happen. We meet strange creatures by going the wrong way up a one-way street. We learn about what a peculiar muddle your presents can get into when your birthday cake is baked with a wishing spoon. And if you manage to save the king of grasshoppers from drowning in your soup, what wonderful rewards may come your way! A magical collection of short stories from best-selling author Joan Aiken.

A truly creepy band of ghosts has been conjured up in this unusual and compelling collection of tales. In New York, Zia Tisna’s weird dolls keep watch over a pair of young lovers, while out of the River Thames crawls a ghost baby to torment Janet. Cousin Cherry falls victim to Mrs Wildeve’s gale-force powers, and Uncle Avvie returns from the Dismal Swamp with a bag full of something sinister.... More strange and spooky stories from bestselling author Joan Aiken.

The proverb in mouse legend ‘Ravens who eat egg-beaters won’t touch mice’ first comes about during disastrous events in the Jones household - involving large amounts of cream, the ladies of Rumbury Town, Archibald the cat (an ex-burglar’s assistant), a foreign professor, mounds of macaroons and meringues, and of course, Mortimer the lovable raven - in Mortimer Says Nothing.

Everybody in the elves’ village was in a terrible state of worry and confusion, dashing hither and thither. And all because the King of the Elves had lost his crown. THEY - the people who live in the house - had been spring-cleaning, and had taken everything out of the china-cupboard where the elves’ village is. That, said the King, was when the crown was lost.

All these delightful stories are concerned with sleeping and waking, dreams, and night time, and around each tale is woven the theme of a familiar lullaby or bedtime song. There are also many memorable characters - helpful crows, a malicious kelpie, Gladiolus the invisible cat, and a girl who dreams of her future brother. This is a very special collection of goodnight stories, combining real life, magic, and fantasy, from acclaimed author Joan Aiken.

A child in danger, an isolated house in the depths of winter - and a killer on the loose.... Snow-covered fields and moors stretch away on all sides of Herondale House. Despite rumours of an escaped killer on the run, Deborah Lindsay knows that she must control her fear - she has a young charge, 13-year-old prodigy Carreen, to care for. But the isolated Yorkshire farmhouse already holds the terrible secret of one death - and after an increasing number of sinister 'accidents', Deborah begins to wonder how long it will be before evil strikes again....

Ein Rätsel aus der Vergangenheit wird Meggie zum Verhängnis: Als Kind war sie Zeugin eines Mordes, der nie aufgeklärt wurde. Auf der Suche nach der Wahrheit kehrt sie zurück nach Cornwall, dem Ort des Verbrechens, und gerät dabei selbst in Lebensgefahr...

In 'The Mystery of Mr Jones’s Disappearing Taxi', someone has been driving Mr Jones’s taxi, and books have been mysteriously vanishing from the local library. Can Arabel and Mortimer solve the mystery? Mortimer’s Cross sees Arabel’s nasty great-aunt Olwen coming to stay, and subjecting Mortimer to a bath - much to his disgust. And in Mortimer’s Portrait on Glass the Jones family take a trip to Ireland and visit a glass factory, with unfortunate results.

These 11 stories include, amongst others, a terrifying Nordic curse and a country garden inhabited by a deadly ghost. Aiken's other works include 'The Kingdom Under The Sea', 'Mortimer Says Nothing' and 'Past Eight O'Clock'.