Joan Aiken

Two children stand up to a network of criminals in a snowy England where the wolves still prey... Can you go a little faster? Can you run? Long ago, at a time in history that never happened, England was overrun with wolves. But as Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia discover, real danger often lies closer to home. Their new governess,...

Eight wonderfully imaginative modern fairy tales from the mind of Joan Aiken, now back in print after 30 years Join master storyteller Joan Aiken and illustrator extraordinaire Quentin Blake for eight original and wildly imaginative modern fairy tales. From eight-legged horses and Martian dinosaurs to a girl cursed to turn into a pink snake, these weird and wonderful short stories...

Joan Aiken writes superbly, with a force, a colour and strength of imagination that one encounters all too rarely today – The Telegraph Strong and independent Valhalla Montgomery, a heroine straight out of a Henry James novel, abandons her New York career as a journalist to search for her half-brother in Joan Aiken’s gothic novel, Castle Barebane. Wishing to escape...

Emma Watson has been brought up by her aunt in a wealthy and refined household, an educated lifestyle far removed from her widowed father and five siblings. So when her aunt enters into an imprudent second marriage, nineteen-year-old Emma is sent back home and must join her sisters in their pursuit of a husband. Aiken takes on the fate of...

A beautiful new paperback edition, with a new introduction and extra content by the author's daughter, Lizza Aiken, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of this wild, evocative and timeless fantasy. In a period of English history that never happened, when Good King James III is on the throne, and the whole country is ravaged by wolves which have migrated through...

Puffin Classics: the definitive collection of timeless stories, for every child Rediscover the A Puffin Book series and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation – including this treasured edition of Arabel and Mortimer Stories. Late one night, as Mr Jones drove his taxi home through a storm, he spotted a large black bird with a hairy fringe around...

A beautiful new edition of Joan Aiken's captivating collection of much-loved modern fairytales, now reissued with Jan Pienkowski's original and iconic silhouette illustrations. 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...

Two very different, but physically identical, young ladies meet at a boarding school once attended by Jane Austen. Joan Aiken's engrossing regency novel is perfect for fans of the major Netflix romantic drama series, Bridgerton. Self-righteous Louisa wants to escape her grand family life in Northumberland and become a missionary in India. Imaginative and quiet Alvey has no family and...

'Joan Aiken's invention seemed inexhaustible, her high spirits a blessing, her sheer storytelling zest a phenomenon. She was a literary treasure, and her books will continue to delight for many years to come.' - Philip Pullman The Paget Family Saga comes to a thrilling conclusion with The Girl from Paris, a gripping Gothic historical romance from acclaimed author Joan Aiken....

The Paget family's adventures begin in this Gothic regency romance from legendary author Joan Aiken, perfect for fans of Bridgerton, Netflix's romantic drama series inspired by the novels of Julia Quinn. When danger forces expatriate English gentlewoman Juliana Paget to flee her home in Italy, she embarks on a journey full of thrilling adventure. Nothing could have prepared her for...

Two intertwining adventures - one of English drama and one of Indian conflict - both meet at the Paget family home in the second of Joan Aiken's romantic regency adventures, The Weeping Ash. Perfect for fans of Bridgerton, the romantic drama series from Netflix inspired by Julia Quinn's novels. Juliana Paget kindly lends The Hermitage Estate to her widowed cousin...

Harriet Ward, know as Hatty to her sisters, is treated with utter contempt by most of her family. Lacking the beauty that her older sisters inherited she is left without a dowry to care for their ill mother once her sisters are married off. Sent to Portsmouth to live with her rumbustious uncle and cousins, Hatty turns her creative flair...

It had taken, at most, three seconds for the elevator to pass downwards from the sixteenth to the twelfth... Mr Meldrum had ceased to be, and something hideously different took his place. A man convinced that he has developed a phantom beak edges towards a terrible metamorphosis. Interlopers dismissing the superstitions of hare-women in the countryside pay for their scepticism...