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Author

Joan Aiken

Joan Aiken (1924-2004) was the British writer whose alternate-history Wolves of Willoughby Chase YA series and the Dido Twite novels are some of the most reread mid-century British children's fiction. She wrote dozens of adult novels and ghost stories alongside the children's work.

Reviews

8

Books on file

8

Avg rating

3.5

Years active

1984-2002

Reviewed

Our reviews of Joan Aiken's work

The takes

What we have said about Joan Aiken

  • A Joan Aiken Wolves Chronicles entry. Dido Twite in Roman Britain and Aiken at her wild best.

  • Joan Aiken's sequel to Sense and Sensibility, told from the point of view of the illegitimate daughter Austen left as an afterthought.

  • Joan Aiken telling Emma from the point of view of Jane Fairfax. The book Austen almost wrote, finally written.

  • Joan Aiken writing strange YA dystopia. A post-monster-invasion Britain, a brother and sister, and a tone you cannot quite categorize.

  • Joan Aiken completing the unfinished Austen fragment of The Watsons. Respectful, technically sound, slightly more sentimental than Austen was setting up.

  • Joan Aiken's sequel to Mansfield Park. Pleasant, careful, slightly more polite than the original.

  • Joan Aiken novelizing the Disney film. A surprisingly thoughtful piece of work-for-hire.

  • Joan Aiken writing about the third Ward sister, the one Austen never bothered with in Mansfield Park. Quietly subversive.