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18th out of 187 books
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30 voters
Black Hearts in Battersea (The Wolves Chronicles #2)
Simon, the foundling from The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, arrives in London to meet an old friend and pursue the study of painting. Instead he finds himself unwittingly in the middle of a wicked crew's fiendish caper to overthrow the good King James and the Duke and Duchess of Battersea. With the help of his friend Sophie and the resourceful waif Dido, Simon narrowly escap...more
Paperback, 240 pages
Published
October 25th 1999
by Sandpiper
(first published 1964)
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Apr 18, 2010
Abigail
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Fans of Victorian Melodrama, Joan Aiken fans, Lemony Snicket Readers...
Review Temporarily Removed.
“Too Many Villains and Coincidences”
Billed as the 2nd in the WOLVES chronicles this book proves a disappointment after the delightful WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE—at least to an adult reviewer. Kids will enjoy it though, for it offers plenty of action, evil plotters lurking behind every other page, spunky heroines and a determined hero. But there is too much coincidence involving related families and mistaken identities to be realistic for a mature audience to swallow. But middle school kids wil...more
Billed as the 2nd in the WOLVES chronicles this book proves a disappointment after the delightful WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE—at least to an adult reviewer. Kids will enjoy it though, for it offers plenty of action, evil plotters lurking behind every other page, spunky heroines and a determined hero. But there is too much coincidence involving related families and mistaken identities to be realistic for a mature audience to swallow. But middle school kids wil...more
A satisfying retelling of the striving orphan story told in an alternate history of England where James the third sits on the throne. The main character Simon is a hard working young man who is trying to find out what has happened to his mentor and is soon set to trying to understand two diverse families in London, the Twites which he lodges with and the Duke of Batterseas family. The story holds some slightly odd fantasy elements such as how Sophie, Simon's good friend was at one point raised b...more
I found this book a good deal better than the first in the series. I was more accustomed to Aiken's airy disregard of plausibility and practicality(eg. minor details like, when a hired sleigh pulls up at door pursued by wolves and all the passengers rush inside, what happens to the sleigh and horses? Never mentioned again?)and the stage was definitely enlivened by the first appearance of Dido Twite, who becomes the long-running overall protagonist of the series. Apart from her invincibly buoyant...more
Young Simon comes to London at the invitation of his old mentor, but when he arrives his mentor is nowhere to be found. What Simon finds instead is a wicked plot to overthrow King James, and only his wits and unlikely friends can help him save the dayand himself. Black Hearts in Battersea is thoroughly predictable, but not as such bad. It's one part rollicking adventure and one part heavy-handed foreshadowing, and while the latter strips all suspense from the former, it doesn't sap its energy....more
i reiterate what i said upon reading "nightbirds." which boils down to fangirlish, "how did i not read these before now, they are awesome." although i have to say, i am glad i read that one first, because i'm not sure that i would've loved dido if this was my first intro to her. i loved all the good characters and hated all the bad ones and wonder why more children's books today don't involve nefarious plots, wolves and hot air balloons.
I love these books. It's hard to explain, because they are so very weird: the language is old-fashioned, plausibility is left at the door, coincidence abounds. I mean, it even has the old "orphan kid is really a great person, even though very disadvantaged in upbringing, but oh wow it turns out he's really a duke" trope - twice! I usually hate that, but I don't get an overwhelmig feeling of classism from Aiken. I mean, her very best character - Dido! - is a poor child, and though many of the vil...more
What a disappointment. I was so excited to find that one of my favorite childhood books has an entire series of sequels. After reading book two (Black Hearts in Battersea) I don't think I will read any of the other ones. How anyone can rate this book more than 2 stars is beyond me. I should have judged it by its cover. Illustrated by the great Edward Gorey but it is not one of his better efforts. It looks like he was phoning it in for a paycheck. Go ahead and look at it now, a few badly rendered...more
I don't know why I never read this series when I first discovered Aiken's alternate history London in Midnight Is a Place, but I'm enjoying it now. It's a quick read, not dark by my standards (though bad things do happen they are tempered with humor), and it was easy to gloss over any historical contexts that I was clueless about (it's summer after all, and I didn't want to make myself think too much). I thoroughly enjoyed the story. I do wonder about something at the end which I thought was sho...more
Ha! Who would have thought that I would enjoy this second book in Joan Aiken's Wolves Chronicles even more than The Wolves of Willoughby Chase! Of course Simon was always one of my favorite characters, so that went a long way towards my enjoyment of this story. Also, this is longer so there are more adventures and more mysteries to be enjoyed along the way.
I didn't take to little Dido Twite in the beginning, but she really grew on me as the story progressed. I'm glad to know she will appear in...more
I didn't take to little Dido Twite in the beginning, but she really grew on me as the story progressed. I'm glad to know she will appear in...more
I read this book as a child, and it stuck with me for years. I'd forgotten the title & author, but I recently managed to track it down and bought a copy of my familiar 1987 edition on eBay.
I really enjoyed the opportunity to re-read it, and once again I was swept away to historic Chelsea to follow Simon's adventure. One of the things (besides the 20 years of fading memory) that made it difficult for me to remember much from my first read is that the story is extremely lively and a lot happen...more
I really enjoyed the opportunity to re-read it, and once again I was swept away to historic Chelsea to follow Simon's adventure. One of the things (besides the 20 years of fading memory) that made it difficult for me to remember much from my first read is that the story is extremely lively and a lot happen...more
Fantastic. I think Dr. Furnace ("Furrneaux, if you please, Furrneaux -- I cannot endure the English pronunciation.") was my favorite character. Then Dido Twite. But everyone's so great, and unique, and funny, and the dialects are fantastic, and I pretty much never have any idea what Dido is saying ("Pooh, what a capsy, weevilly fortune"), but I like it that way.
One of my favorite parts, a short history and description of Battersea Castle:
He paused a moment, gazing in awe at the huge mass of buil...more
One of my favorite parts, a short history and description of Battersea Castle:
He paused a moment, gazing in awe at the huge mass of buil...more
This is the second of a series and although it kept my attention I really did not enjoy it much. I really wanted to like it, especially as I had enjoyed The Wolves of Willoughby Chase I think the author's use of dialect and made-up words really detracts from the meaning of some of the dialogue, so I couldn't fully understand what some of the characters were saying. This annoyed me. It is possible that she is using antiquated language in some cases (e.g., hoboy for oboe), but for other words I h...more
Plotting a little more intricate than "Willoughby Chase" and just as many awesome characters. This one was my fav as a child. I do think on rereading, however, that Simon is a bit blah as protagonist in this. He doesn't stand out in any way, either for good or bad. Fortunately Aiken's plots and fantastic side characters can carry the story.
Hooray for this book. The characters are memorable, the dialog engaging and lively, the plot filled with fun devices. I only mark it down because the plot is carried along mainly by sheer coincidence, which gets a bit irritating, and also because the end is abrupt and odd. I assume that means there is a third in the series.
Simon, a minor character in Black Hearts in Battersea (but one who clearly took over Aiken's heart), leaves Yorkshire for London where he can study painting. However, after arriving in London at the home of the Twite family, he is mystified by the disappearance of his mentor, Dr. Field. No one admits to having seen Dr. Field but there are hints he has been at the Twites, in addition to the letter he sent Simon urging him to come stay with him there. Simon enrolls at the art academy as planned an...more
Joan Aiken was the total queen of exciting, engrossing literature for young people. Loved this series as a kid and rereading it now as an adult and a writer, I'm able to fathom why. Her exuberant characters with their unique, fluid and rhythmic patois do not date, dull, nor disappoint. Ever.
Jun 03, 2012
Kaitlin
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
adults and children who would enjoy a fast-moving adventure in a quaint setting
Another charming story with plenty of intrigue (ship fires, stranded islanders, hot air balloons). I love the 19th century setting. The characters' voices are well done, with many different personalities and dialects. As an adult, I am possibly enjoying this series a little too much. I look forward to reading the next book.
Lies, deceptions, treasonous plots, mistaken identity, hot air balloons, wolves at the door, stowaways and completely indecipherable dialect. How could you go wrong? I completely loved this even though it took me a bit to get into it, once it gets going though, it's hard to put down.
Crazy and improbable--a Hanoverian plot to kill the king of England and his loyal Duke and Duchess of Battersea, with orphans, mistaken identities and long lost relations, wonderful bizarre accents and dialects.
I find myself wanting to like these more than I do. I think it's either to do with believability (ie in the plot hole sense) or with the occasional jumps in time and place. I'm not sure what to think!
A good deal better than its predecessor. I still always want it to be better than it is (the premise is perhaps more intriguing than the execution), but well worth the price of admission anyway.
Read it to my son. Lots of fun. It felt Dickensian, but easier to read. I kept feeling dread that things were going to end badly, but they didn't. So pleasant. I'd like to read more of them.
5 stars for being completely hilarious and nutso in the best British sense. Also enjoyed that it ended on Christmas eve, which was the day I finished it. Love a timely read!
This is the best book in the Wolves series. Enter the unlikeliest, and the most lovable, heroine ever -- one whose adventures you'll want to follow right till the last book!
Mar 30, 2011
Tony Derricott
marked it as to-read
If Ransome was Mozart, Aiken was Rossini. Unforced effervescence.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-ent...
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-ent...
Another well-told story. This was better than The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, with another highly satisfying ending. (But The Whispering Mountain is still Joan Aiken's best!)
This is the sequel to The Wolves of Willhoughby Chase, although it stands on its own just fine. Simon, the goose boy from Wolves, is moving to London to stay with Dr. Field and study art. When he reaches the house where Dr. Field is supposed to be staying, however, he finds that Field is no longer there -- and the family who lives there claims never to have met him! Simon is determined to learn what has become of the kind doctor. On the way, he meets young Dido Twite (a rapscallion of a girl, bu...more
The second book in the Wolves of Willoughby Chase series, this is a bit zanier than its predecessor. Devious, underhanded villains get their inevitable come-uppance, orphans discover their true identities, virtue triumphs in the end, all in a tale told by a fine writer. It's great fun.
Enjoyed but I think I would have liked it a lot more had I read it as a child. I remember liking "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase" much more.
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Joan Delano Aiken was a much loved English writer who received the MBE for services to Children's Literature. Her most famous classic, THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE,has been celebrating its 50th Anniversary with the publication of three brand new editions of the book and a new AUDIO recorded by her daughter Lizza.
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“He paused a moment, gazing in awe at the huge mass of buildings composing the castle. It stood close to the river, on either side and to the rear stretched the extensive park and gardens, filled with splendid trees, fountains and beds of brilliant flowers in shades of pink, crimson, and scarlet. The castle itself was built of pink granite, and enclosed completely a smaller, older building which the present Duke's father had considered too insignificant for his town residence. The new castle had taken forty years to build; three architects and hundreds of men had worked day and night, and the old Duke had personally selected every block of sunset-colored stone that went to its construction. 'I want it to look like a great half-open rose,' he declared to the architects, who were fired with enthusiasm by this romantic fancy. It was begun as a wedding present to the Duke's wife, whose name was Rosamond, but unfortunately she died some nine years before it was completed. 'never mind, it will do for her memorial instead,' said the grief-stricken but practical widower. The work went on. At last the final block was laid in place. The Duke, by now very old, went out in his barouche and drove slowly along the opposite riverbank to consider the effect. He paused midway for a long time, then gave his opinion. 'It looks like a cod cutlet covered in shrimp sauce,' he said, drove home, took to his bed, and died.”
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Jul 07, 2011 06:43am