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Joan Aiken

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Joan Aiken


Born
in Rye, East Sussex, The United Kingdom
September 04, 1924

Died
January 04, 2004

Website

Genre
Children's Books, Mystery & Thrillers, Historical Fiction

Influences
Joan loved Nineteenth century fiction, Jane Austen, and was a fan of ...more


Joan Aiken was a much loved English writer who received the MBE for services to Children's Literature. She was known as a writer of wild fantasy, Gothic novels and short stories.

She was born in Rye, East Sussex, into a family of writers, including her father, Conrad Aiken (who won a Pulitzer Prize for his poetry), and her sister, Jane Aiken Hodge. She worked for the United Nations Information Office during the second world war, and then as an editor and freelance on Argosy magazine before she started writing full time, mainly children's books and thrillers. For her books she received the Guardian Award (1969) and the Edgar Allan Poe Award (1972).

Her most popular series, the "Wolves Chronicles" which began with The Wolves of Willoughby Chase ...more

1 post
Joan Aiken's Blog

Joan Aiken isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but they do have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from their feed.

New Aiken Book coming out!

Aiken fans will be delighted to discover a new collection of her stories "The Monkey's Wedding" due out on April 19th.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/99...

These stories, some never published before, show Aiken at the beginning of her career, and display her astonishing gift for fantasy and the insanely inventive plots which became her trademark in later years. A singing mermaid in a bottle, a c Read more of this blog post »
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Published on April 12, 2011 10:21

Combine Editions

Average rating: 3.94 · 63,605 ratings · 6,270 reviews · 331 distinct works • Similar authors
The Wolves of Willoughby Ch...
by
4.06 avg rating — 22,368 ratings — published 1962 — 117 editions
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Black Hearts in Battersea (...
4.14 avg rating — 4,558 ratings — published 1964 — 65 editions
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Nightbirds on Nantucket (Th...
4.13 avg rating — 2,600 ratings — published 1966 — 49 editions
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Jane Fairfax
3.60 avg rating — 1,951 ratings — published 1990 — 16 editions
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Arabel's Raven (Arabel and ...
by
4.06 avg rating — 1,425 ratings — published 1972 — 17 editions
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A Necklace of Raindrops and...
4.22 avg rating — 1,354 ratings — published 1972 — 3 editions
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Midnight is a Place
3.96 avg rating — 1,198 ratings — 45 editions
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The Cuckoo Tree (The Wolves...
4.03 avg rating — 1,095 ratings — published 1971 — 36 editions
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The Whispering Mountain (Th...
3.93 avg rating — 1,039 ratings — published 1968 — 29 editions
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The Stolen Lake (The Wolves...
3.89 avg rating — 994 ratings — published 1981 — 26 editions
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More books by Joan Aiken…

Series by Joan Aiken

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase Black Hearts in Battersea Nightbirds on Nantucket The Stolen Lake Dangerous Games The Cuckoo Tree Dido and Pa
(11 books)
by
4.05 avg rating — 35,750 ratings

Arabel's Raven Arabel, Mortimer, and the E... Mortimer's Bread Bin Mortimer's Tie Mortimer and the Sword Exca... The Spiral Stair The Mystery of Mr. Jones's ...
(9 books)
by
4.16 avg rating — 2,637 ratings

Go Saddle the Sea Bridle the Wind The Teeth of the Gale
(3 books)
by
4.04 avg rating — 1,071 ratings

The Smile of the Stranger The Weeping Ash The Girl from Paris
(3 books)
by
3.59 avg rating — 551 ratings

In Thunder's Pocket The Song of Mat and Ben Bone and Dream
(3 books)
by
3.67 avg rating — 36 ratings

More series by Joan Aiken…
Quotes by Joan Aiken  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“Words are like spices. Too many is worse than too few.”
― Joan Aiken, The Last Slice of Rainbow and Other Stories
tags: words
145 likes
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“Why do we want to have alternate worlds? It's a way of making progress. You have to imagine something before you do it. ”
― Joan Aiken
tags: alternate-worlds
17 likes
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“Night's winged horses
No one can outpace
But midnight is no moment
Midnight is a place.

Meet me at Midnight,
Among the Queen Anne's Lace
Midnight is not a moment,
Midnight is a place—

When, when shall I meet you
When shall I see your face
For I am living in time at present
But you are living in space.

Time is only a corner
Age is only a fold
A year is merely a penny
Spent from a century's gold.

So meet me, meet me at midnight
(With sixty seconds' grace)
Midnight is not a moment;
Midnight is a place.”
― Joan Aiken, Midnight is a Place
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