Mansfield Park Revisited: A Jane Austen Entertainment

Product Details

• Notes: BUY WITH Poise, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and benefit to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• Requirement: New
• ISBN13: 9781402212895

Description

In Aiken's sequel to Jane Austen's complex and fascinating novel, after heroine Fanny Price marries Edmund Bertram, they depart for the Caribbean, and Fanny's younger sister Susan moves to Mansfield Park as Lady Bertram's new companion. Surrounded by the familiar cast of characters from Jane Austen's original, and joined by a few charming new characters introduced by the author, Susan finds herself entangled in romance, surprise, scandal, and redemption.

Aiken's diverting tale gives the reader interesting speculation on how the Crawfords, whose winning personalities were marred by an amoral upbringing, might have turned out, and Jane Austen's morality tale takes new directions with an unexpected and somewhat controversial ending.

"A lovely read-and you don't have to have read Mansfield Park to enjoy it."-Woman's Own

"Her sense of time and place is impeccable."-Publishers Weekly

"An excellent sequel...remarkably effective and very funny."
-Evening Standard (20080711)

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Customer Reviews

This is the same novel under another title
Ironic that here everyone loves this and under the other title the reviews are much less "glowing."

BTW, "Mansfield Revisited" (as opposed to Mansfield Park Revisited) is considerably less in cost.

Edited to add- Since I wrote this review Mansfield Revisited is no longer available for sale, although the reviews of it is still here.

I simply cannot understand why this book was reissued under another title.

2009-05-20 (GA) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 3

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A classic Mansfield Park sequel without Fanny Price?
When a book written twenty five years ago is reissued as confidently as Mansfield Park Revisited: A Jane Austen Entertainment by a publisher who specializes in Jane Austen sequels, you hope that it is laudable. Of all of the past sequels to select, (and there are more than a few), why choose one based on Jane Austen's least popular novel Mansfield Park? What has the new author created to make this sequel worthy of resurrection?

Published in 1814, Mansfield Park was Jane Austen's third novel and even though I adore it, it has more than its share of nay sayers. There are several reasons why it is a disappointment (to some), but primary objections fall to its heroine Fanny Price, who some feel is weak and insipid and not at all like Austen's other popular heroine's. Author Joan Aiken's solution in her continuation of Mansfield Park is to resume the story four years after the conclusion and to remove Fanny Price almost entirely from the novel by packing her and her husband Edmund Bertram off to Antigua in the first chapter. Fanny's younger sister Susan Price has been brought to the forefront, stepping into Fanny's previous role as poor relation elevated to companion to Lady Bertram now a widow after Sir Thomas Bertram's unexpected death while attending to his business in the West Indies. Susan has matured into an attractive and bright young woman similar to her older sister, but with more spunk, which will please Fanny opponents. Susan holds her own against her cousins the new Sir Thomas Bertram who often thinks she over steps her position and his sister Julia, now the Honorable Mrs. Yates who resides in the neighborhood and upon Susan's back, objecting to her every move. We are also reintroduced to other characters from the original novel: cousin Maria Bertram the scandalous divorcee, Mary Crawford estranged from her feckless fop of a husband and now gravely ill, and her brother Henry Crawford still a bachelor having never found anyone as worthy as his last love, Fanny Price. Aiken also adds a delightful array of new secondary characters to the mix supplying interest and humor.

A quick read at 201 pages, Aiken moves the story briskly along with a series of challenging events and resolutions that keep the reader engaged, but sadly never resting to discover personalities or relationships in greater detail. At the conclusion I felt more than a bit deprived of a good love story as Susan comes to the conclusion of whom she truly loves on the last few pages. This style not only mirrors Jane Austen's approach with her hero and heroine's romance in Mansfield Park, but amplifies one of the main objections to the original novel. Despite this flaw, Aiken is by far one of the most talented writers to attempt an Austen sequel and Mansfield Park Revisited truly worthy of resurrection. She has respectfully continued Austen's story by expanding her characters, adapting the language for the modern reader, accurately including the social mantle and believably turning our concerns for the two main antagonists Mary and Henry Crawford at the end of Mansfield Park into sympathies, which given their principles and past bad behavior is quite an accomplishment. Packing Austen's heroine Fanny Price off to another country might seem extreme, but it is sure to please the Fanny bashers and allowed Aiken to develop her own heroine Susan who has enough spirit and resolve for the both of them.

Laurel Ann, Austenprose

2009-01-24 | Austenprose (Seattle, WA) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 4

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Another Admirable Aiken "Austen"
The late Joan Aiken is the only writer of Jane Austen sequels I can stand to read--she wrote five or six of them and I've read three, "Jane Fairfax," the sequel to "Emma," being my favorite. Aiken's "Austens" are convincing, I think, partly because she was a terrific and prolific writer in her own right, partly because she writes in a voice both comfortable and compatible with the original JA, but mostly because she doesn't presume to attempt continuing the stories of Austen's leading ladies and gentlemen; rather, she finds her heroines among the supporting characters of the original book, fleshes them out and gives them their own stories, while keeping the setting and supporting cast much the same as the original.

"Mansfield Park Revisited," a 2008 reissue of her 1985 sequel to "Mansfield Park," begins shortly after the deaths of Sir Thomas and Aunt Norris. Within the first few pages, Fanny and Edmund are off to Antigua on family business and Fanny's more likable sister Susan is thrust into the beleaguered heroine's role. To make her plot work, the author must effect huge transformations in three of the original's key characters. She succeeds beautifully with two of them, in my view, but less convincingly with the third. Which is why, much as I enjoyed reading this, I wasn't quite satisfied with the way it ended and couldn't quite summon up a fifth star. A worthy sequel, nonetheless, and I do recommend it.

2008-09-24 (Washington, DC USA) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 4

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An enjoyable "puff" sequel to Austen's masterpiece
Of all the characters in Jane Austen's masterpiece "Mansfield Park", Susan Price is probably my favorite. I've never had any sympathy for Fanny Price, the book's heroine; she's always impressed me as being a world-class drip, but her younger sister Susan, who takes her place at Mansfield Park after Fanny's marriage to Edmund Bertram, is a delightful creature. More spirited, more outspoken, less sanctimonious and moralizing than Fanny, she's someone we feel comfortable with, and much nicer to be around. She deserved a book of her own, and now she has one: She's the heroine of "Mansfield Park Revisited".

Joan Aiken's reinvention of Mansfield Park opens four years after Austen's book closed, on the demise of Sir Thomas, leaving Tom Bertram the head of the family while Edmund goes off to Antigua, with Fanny and new baby in tow, to settle the family affairs. Susan is left at Mansfield to look after Lady Bertram, as shallow and indolent as Austen left her, while Tom's sister Julia, now married to John Yates, incessantly meddles in the affairs of the house (Aiken makes her almost as obnoxious as Aunt Norris was), with designs to marry Tom off to her husband's sister. Tom, meanwhile, has designs to marry an heiress with thirty thousand pounds, when he gets around to it, but finds his plans upset by Susan's brother William, a newly made naval captain, who beats Tom to the punch while he's attending to other affairs. Oh well.

Into the mix, Aiken reintroduces the notorious Crawfords, rehabilitated for what purpose I'm not altogether certain. I always liked the Crawfords, warts and all; they were much more interesting than the stuffy Edmund and the insufferably prissy Fanny. Aiken, for some reason, sees fit to present Henry Crawford as the victim of emotional blackmail and slander by Maria Bertram, and poor Mary is wasting away from a mysterious illness after marrying for money and repenting at leisure, but not before her obnoxious husband has lost his marbles and has to be confined in an attic. Interesting twist on "Jane Eyre": instead of the mad wife in the attic, Aiken gives us the mad husband in the attic. At any rate, we never see or hear from him.

Aiken's book is an enjoyable, fast-paced read, but some Austen purists will undoubtedly be climbing the walls at her revision of some of Austen's characters. She also lacks Austen's acerbic wit, but she has sense enough not to try to write like Austen; she tells her tale in her own style. She makes Susan Price a most engaging and sympathetic heroine, providing friendship and comfort to poor Mary Crawford, efficiently looking after Mansfield Park while Lady Bertram lays around on the sofa all day, and setting things to rights with her own mixture of good humor, intelligence and common sense. But Aiken's ending seems hurried and contrived; she doesn't develop it in any way and we're stuck wondering how in the world did this come about? We're left without a clue.

Taken as a whole, "Mansfield Park Revisited" is fun, uncomplicated, and about as deep as a rain puddle. It's not Austen, but it doesn't pretend to be. Just enjoy it for what it is.

Judy Lind

2008-09-20 | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 4

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Midwinter Nightingale

Description

Dido and Simon are in danger in this new addition to the Wolves Chronicles. Dido, back in England from America, is almost instantly kidnapped and taken to a derelict mansion surrounded by a deadly moat. The evil baron residing there, who is also a werewolf, wants desperately to know where King Dick is hidden. For the king is dying, and the evil baron wants to put his own demented son on the throne. Meanwhile Simon is with the ailing king. Not only does King Dick want Simon to paint a portrait of him and his family, but Simon is also next in line for the throne. However, they do need to find the coronet for the ceremony that will crown Simon. Though the coronet is rumored to be in the derelict mansion where Dido is imprisoned, no one can find it. It’s one cliffhanging, hair-raising chapter after another in this tongue-in-cheek, devilishly delicious adventure.


From the Hardcover edition.

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Customer Reviews

Midwinter Nightingale
Midwinter Nightingale
By: Joan Aiken

" What? Where am I? And my keys-where are the keys of the palace?" wailed the king. The king is becoming sicker and sicker each day, and the enemy grows ever closer. How much longer does King Richard have before he goes to live among the angels? King Richard goes missing just before Dido Twite comes back from America. She is a good friend of Simon Bakerloo, the duke of Battersea, who is also gone missing. Not only does the king's archbishop believe that Dido knows where the two are, but the Duchess of Burgundy thinks so too. As soon as Dido is finished being questioned by the archbishop, she is kidnapped and taken to an old school that is being used as the Burgundian's headquarters. While Dido is trying to stay alive and find a way out of the dreadful place, Simon is struggling to keep the king alive long enough so that he can find King Alfred's headpiece. He already knows that the king`s, "Cousin Dick," days are numbered, so Simon is trying to find King Alfred's headpiece, so that he can finish the coronet ceremony which is the passing of the headpiece to the new king. Dido escapes the school and meets up with Simon and his faithful herd of animals, a flock of sheep and two bears accidentally imported from Russia. Together they are able to get the king and themselves to safety and perform the coronet ceremony just minutes before the king dies. Luckily for the king, he was able to hear the nightingales sing one last time efore he passed away. This was a good book, but it was a little confusing at times. The setting is in England, so the characters talked like the English do. I would recommend this book to all who love to read an exciting mystery.
English people talk different from Americans, so some words were confusing, but it got the reader into the book because by reading the dialogue, it felt like the person was talking to you. Just before the king died, he met and talked to an old friend. He said, "`Sir Thomas Coldace?' he whispered. `Nay, he's no stranger. I ken him well. I'd like tae see the callant!'" Another English use of a word was how the used "Ay" before beginning a sentence, like Americans use hey. Another example of how confusing the dialogue became was when Simon was talking to the king and he replied, "'Och, aye, so tis. Lucy who scarce seven hours herself unveils.'"
This book was somewhat disturbing in the horrible ways the people were killed. One man who refused to tell the duchess where the king was hiding was stuffed into a tiny crate, starved for several days, and then thrown into a moat full of crocodiles. Another gruesome death was when Lot's father who had just gotten out of prison was killed my molten silver. His own daughter set fire to the school. Then the bags of silver were melted down and were poured onto Magnus as he tried to climb the ladder. The most horrific death was when lot killed his own sister. He was trying to kill Simon, but he moved out of the way, and Lot's sister Jorinda stepped in to protect Simon. Lot caught her right in the throat with his spear and it took him a while to try to get it out of her throat.
This book had some interesting characters. Simon Bakerloo, who was a duke, was very modest to be of such high authority. When he is first introduced, he is riding a regular train and meets Jorinda. He shows great patience that helped him be patient and levelheaded with the king. Aboard the train, he had to listen to the constant chatter of Jorinda. The when they had a train check he had to withstand being checked many times by the guards. They had put stolen jewels in Simon's bags, but Simon had checked them and took them out before his bag was checked. Aunt Titania was another character. She had the gift of prophesy and tried to us it to figure out what side she wanted to be on. She helped Cousin Dick through most of his sickness, but two days before he died, she left without telling Simon and went to the school where the duchess was. The last character was Baron Magnus. He was an awful man. The reason he had been in prison was because he'd murdered people, and the reason why he killed people was that he was a werewolf and couldn't help it. The thing was is that even though he couldn't help that, he could stop himself from murdering others when he was in his human form, but he didn't. After he got out of prison, he killed the doctor that had taken care of him and all the guards that had watched his room.
Midwinter Nightingale is a great book. If you want to read about a werewolf craving revenge, an ailing king and some strange animal behaviors plus twenty new ways to torture a person, this is the book for you. It's a great book to get lost in for hours!





S.Gore

2006-02-17 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Dido Twite is here!
Dido Twite has just returned to England, from a visit to Nantucket, and a chilling welcome greets her. She is captured and imprisoned by Baron Rudh (werewolf), his awful son Lot, and the evil Duchess of Burgundy. Her captors hope that she will lead them to Simon Battersea (6th Duke of Battersea) and King Richard, who is on his deathbed. The bad trio plan to put Lot on the throne.

Meanwhile, Simon is struggling to hide King Richard, in the flooded wetlands (where the Burgundians are planning to invade).
Simon also has to find the ancient coronet, but is hampered by the boring Jorinda, a flock of sheep, Russian Bears, and the United Real Saxon Army, who do not fight.

Who will be the King?

A thrilling novel, by Joan Aiken, that makes you want to read it.

2006-01-26 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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A weaker continuation of the wonderful Wolves Chronicles
I have been a fan of Joan Aiken's Wolves chronicles ever since my mother brought home The Wolves of Willoughby Chase for me to read in first grade; I own most of her books and enjoy her short stories and other novels as well. However, both this novel and the preceding Dangerous Games disappointed me. While I have no objections to the fantastic plot, it needed to be more fleshed out in order to be convincing. In The Stolen Lake and The Cuckoo Tree Ms Aiken successfully meshed magical, mysterious elements with the vivid, real-feeling world of her novels. Midwinter Nightingale, despite some promising plot elements, falters: she takes her readers' suspension of disbelief for granted. This wouldn't be so bad, however, if the characters held up. Instead, Dido seems a flat imitation of her usual self, drained of all complexity and turned into a dashing puppet. Simon, too, is reduced to a cricature. The villains are unconvincing, and they way that the story deals with them is troubling. One character in particular does not seem evil enough to merit the swift death and lack of remorse that the plot imposes, while another character is killed off in a rather callous manner. I hope that Joan Aiken's next (and final) novel is a return to form; all of her previous books are so good, it would be a shame for this one to overshadow her memory.

2005-04-13 | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 3

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Continuing Excellence
I loved Joan Aiken's series, starting with the Wolves of Willoughby Chase, when I was a child, and now at 36 they still have just as much ability to charm me. This latest in the installment had enough excitement and humor to keep me reading cover to cover in one sitting. At first I thought she might have gone too far in this story line-werewolves after all! (though I suppose after the Stolen Lake anything was possible), but Aiken carried it off admirably. I was a bit disappointed by the ending though. I suppose I was hoping she might wrap up the story, not because I want the series to end (I wish it could go on forever), but because Aiken is 80 after all and I hope she ties up loose ends before she dies. I hope she's working on the next one!

2003-08-21 | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 5

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Dido Twite is back...as sassy as ever
Who needs Harry Potter when you can thrill to the adventures of Dido Twite, the indefatigable Cockney heroine of Joan Aiken's Wolves Chronicles?
In this latest installment, Dido is back in England during the (fictional) reign of King Richard IV, just in time to help save the throne from the loutish son of a werewolf baron. Yes, the plot sounds outrageous, and perhaps it is--but the story is so fast-paced, the narrative so vivid and yet so concise, and the characters so charismatic that even the most literal-minded reader (youngster or adult) is unlikely to care.
For fans of Aiken's entire series, which begins with "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase" and includes "Black Hearts in Battersea," "Nightbirds on Nantucket," and "The Cuckoo Tree" (one of my favorites), one of the most rewarding aspects of "Midwinter Nightingale" is Dido's reunion with her mate Simon--and the bittersweet yet open-ended way Aiken closes the book. Surely another episode is in the works?

2003-06-14 | schiger (New Rochelle, NY USA) | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 5

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Bridle the Wind

Product Details

• Inure: New
• Notes: BUY WITH Self-reliance, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and waiting to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• ISBN13: 9780152060589

Description

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Customer Reviews

This book was great!
This book is the sequel to "Go Saddle the Sea" and very good. Joan Aiken continues the same style of writing in this book as she did in "Go Saddle the Sea." Thirteen-year-old Felix is traveling back from England in the early 1820s to his home in Spain with a boy named Juan who he saved from hanging. This book is more creepy than "Go Saddle the Sea" but still has the same wonderful passages describing the scenery. For anyone who loved "Go Saddle the Sea" "Bridle the Wind" is a must along with its sequel "The Teeth of the Gale."

1999-08-18 | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 5

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The Stolen Lake

Description

Readers who have followed Dido Twite"s escapades in BLACK HEARTS IN BATTERSEA and NIGHTBIRDS ON NANTUCKET will welcome her return in her wildest adventure yet.
Now back in print, THE CUCKOO TREE and THE STOLEN LAKE continue the Wolves Chronicles, the exhilarating and imaginative series that stemmed from Joan Aiken"s classic THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE.
A dazzling piece of dramatic, snowballing adventure, THE STOLEN LAKE is full of fantastical details: revolving palaces, witches who are also court dressmakers, an apocalyptic volcanic eruption, and an infernal country with a noticeable lack of female children. On her way back to London aboard the British man-of-war Thrush, twelve-year-old Dido Twite finds herself and the crew summoned to the aid of the tyrannical queen of New Cumbria. A neighboring king has stolen the queen"s lake and is holding it for ransom, and it"s up to Dido and the crew to face fire, flood, execution, and wild beasts to get the lake back — or else.

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Customer Reviews

another dido twite adventure
I'm not sure what order the Dido books should be read in - they do stand alone, but it's nice to know some background. The mish mash of distorted history and pure fantasy are held together by Dido's good sense and no nonsense approach to adventures. Joan Aitken's coined words are wonderful and continue through the series. This book is good to read aloud or silently. I am reading the series to my daughter and am thoroughly enjoying it!

2010-02-01 (New York) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Another fine Dido book.
Joan Aiken, The Stolen Lake (Houghton Mifflin, 1981)

Aiken's adventures featuring plucky, uppity Dido Twite just get more and more outrageous as we get further into the series, and Dido, who started off in the second book of the series as something of a well-meaning villain, has turned into quite the little heroine. These are wonderful books, and as I've said in previous review of the series, if you didn't read them as a kid (or only read the first, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase), don't let adulthood stop you from discovering them now.

The action begins not long after the third book ends, with Dido steaming for home with a new crew (the old one mysteriously disappeared Alien 3 style while we were between books). While they're on their way, Hughes, the ship's captain, gets an urgent plea from the Queen of New Cumbria, down in Roman America (in the alternate universe we live in, New Cumbria is at the head of the Amazon River, and seems to occupy part of western Brazil and part of eastern Peru). So Dido is forced to make a detour on her long journey home. Dido, Hughes, his steward Mr. Holystone, and a few of the other crew members disembark at Tenby, the only port into New Cumbria, and head for the capitol, Bath Regis. Things start going awry quickly, though...

It's somewhat amusing that it takes us almost three-quarters of the book to actually get to Bath Regis and find out what the queen wants, especially given that the object of all this mystery is the title of the book. Still, you probably won't care much, as Dido and her companions find no end of scrapes to get into on the way, what with savages, evil seamstresses, duplicitous diplomats, ex-pirates who may not be so ex-, a passel of missing kids, aurocs, snakes, piranha, and a mysterious bard all along for the ride. Aiken also takes the opportunity to do a great deal of worldbuilding in this book, as she has various characters relate the history of Roman America as it relates to Britain. It's all quite fun. Another good book in a good series. *** ½

2007-08-10 | xterminal (Cleveland, OH) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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A Fantastic Book for Potter and Baudlaire Fans
This book is great! It has mystery and makes you want to read more. And I can garentee guarantee something will change your favorite character. You may want to dose in some points, but most of it is pure enjoyment! Dido Twite has some problems, to get a lake! Find mystery and adventure The Stolen Lake!

2003-01-28 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 4

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Possibly the best of the Dido Twite Series
Of the many reasons to read the works of Joan Aiken, two stand out: the irresistable pluckiness of the heroines (especially Dido Twite), and Joan's marvellously detailed alternate history of the planet Earth.

An alternative history is one of the staples of science fiction. What if the Nazis had won World War II? Or what if the South had won the American civil war? These subjects have consumed many a book. But Joan Aiken is unique, in my view, because she has crafted a detailed alternate history of England and America, and has used it as the backdrop, rather than the focus, of the story. Just take it for granted that the Stuarts managed to keep a hold of the English crown. This is just one of many ingredients in Joan Aiken's stories.

But in "The Stolen Lake", Joan's alternative history writing is at its most creative, and that pushes its prominence forward in the book. Rather than fading into history, the ancient kingdom of Arthur and the remains of the Roman Empire stole the boats of the invading Saxons and fled to South America where they founded "Roman" (as opposed to "Latin") America. King Arthur still sleeps, but Queen Guenivere has basically sold her soul to keep herself alive through the 1300 years, awaiting her husband's return. Into this, the young and plucky Dido Twite arrives, and upsets the corrupt regime.

This only scratches the surface of the detail of "The Stolen Lake". Alternative history buffs, fans of King Arthur tales, and fans of the plucky Dido Twite will find plenty to enjoy in this richly detailed tale that is a standout of Joan Aiken's books.

2001-08-16 | Writer, The Unwritten Girl (Kitchener, Ontario Canada) | Helpful Votes: 11 | Rating: 5

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This should be compulsory reading for ALL
Out of all the books in Joan Aiken's Wolves of Willoughby Chase series, this is hands down the best. (OK, I haven't read Dido and Pa, but of the others.) It really has no connection to the other books in the series, and I don't think that it's the greatest read for very young children, however it is the most thrilling, the least predictable, DEFINITELY the most imaginative, and the most mature. It's not as humourous as the others, but it has its moments, and I personally feel that this is the climax of all Dido's adventures before she gets home to meet Simon again. As always, unforgettable characters (Cap'n Hughes, Mr. Holystone, Elen, Bran...) that are always believable, no matter how fantastical the plot is, and well, an all round fascinating, entertaining, frightening, happy-ending, beautiful book. MUCH more adventurous than the previous books in the series.

The King Arthur connection is brilliant, even if Arthur did actually die BEFORE the battle of Dyrham... but those with a basic knowledge of the legends and history will appreciate it, and if you learn more about Arthur etc. your appreciation of the book will only grow richer. Also, make sure to pay attention to the marriage of Latin American and Welsh cultures, which is also brilliantly done (Dafydd Gomez, Juan Jones, José Glendower - should that be Glyndwr?) although it begs the question, if the Celts settled the area in 577, when did the Spanish come? But ignoring that, a BRILLIANT book, definitely read it.

2001-07-26 (Toronto, Canada) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 5

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The Cuckoo Tree

Description

When Dido Twite sets foot back on English soil, more mischief awaits. As her friend Captain Hughes recovers from a carriage accident, Dido stays at the Dogkennel Cottages and meets the odd inhabitants of Tegleaze Manor: strange old Lady Tegleaze, her nephew, Tobit, and his wizened, witchy nurse, Sannie. Soon suspicious things happen. A priceless miniature is stolen. Tobit is framed and then kidnapped. A twin sister is found. And when Dido catches a glimpse of her rascally father in Petworth, she is sure she"s in the midst of another Hanoverian plot. Can she get to London to warn the king and save St. Paul's Cathedral from sliding into the Thames?

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Customer Reviews

Excellent read!
Joan Aiken never fails to please. This is an amazing book-- full of adventure and intrigue. I first read it decades ago when my sister gave it to me for my 11th birthday, and have read it over and over in the intervening years. My birthday copy was, unfortunately, damaged beyond repair, so I've bought another. (For an excellent price and received quickly and in exceptional condition, I might add!) I highly recommend this book for young people and adults. No one can fail to be drawn into the wonderful story that Joan Aiken weaves in this continuation of her "Wolves of Willoughby Chase" et al books. Dido is a refreshing, endearing character with chutzpah and good common sense and decency. Children and adults alike will benefit from exposure to her.

2010-07-05 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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alternative history and suspense
another great book from Joan Aiken. Wonderfully strong female lead and interesting alternative history.

2006-07-04 | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 5

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Safe in England's arms...or not
After almost three years and a succession of voyages "twice round the world," scrappy Cockney Dido Twite finally sets foot in England once again. Unfortunately she's still 60 miles from her beloved London, and getting across that distance proves to be just as difficult as her previous adventures put together. Seeking help for her travelling companion, Captain Hughes, RN, after a coach wreck, she runs into first a mysterious band of what eventually turn out to be smugglers (but very upright ones, King's men to the last), then the oddly assorted inhabitants of run-down Tegleaze Manor. The Captain is carrying a vital dispatch for the First Lord of the Admiralty, and it soon becomes apparent to Dido that the rascally Hanoverians know about it (and may even have arranged the wreck). There's also witchery--perhaps even voodoo--afoot, and a plot to deprive young Sir Tobit of his inheritance. But Dido proves equal to it all, with the help of the kindly blind shepherd Mr. Firkin and the delightful chief smuggler Yan Wineberry (who reminds me of a British Han Solo, and who seems to be related to half the South of England, as well as being known and trusted to various high government figures). A new Stuart king, Richard IV, is introduced, the Preventives (government revenue officers) are revealed to be hand in glove with the Hanoverians, and Dido is reunited with her rascally but musically brilliant father, who for all his cavalier treatment of her seems to care enough to plead for her life when she is captured by the conspirators. Though often deliciously shuddersome, the book retains the quality of its predecessors, and Dido is certainly up to her usual standard.

2004-10-13 (Scranton, PA) | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 4

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A Deeper, More Scary Adventure than Usual
After her light-hearted adventures on the island of Nantucket in the previous installment in Joan Aiken's "Wolves" Saga, Dido Twite comes up against darker enemies once she reaches English soil once more. At the end of the last book, Dido left Nantucket with Captain Hughes, who since then has become rather ill. When the carriage they're riding in overtips thanks to a dodgy cabby-driver, Dido goes for help and soon finds herself in the company of more weird and wonderful acquantices - so many in fact, that they add up to more than all of the previous books put together!

Finding shelter for Captain Hughes thanks to the Tegleaze Manor House and its inhabitants (the spoilt young heir Tobis, the matriarchal and domineering Lady Tegleaze and the strange, creepy Tante Sannie) Dido soon suspects the makings of another Hanoverian plot to usurp the British throne and wreck King Richard the Fourth's coronation. But many factions are at work within the plot: the illusive Mr Mystery and his bizarre, life-like puppets, the witch Mrs Lubagge whose dislike for Dido could prove dangerous, Tante Sannie and her Joobie nuts, and even her own father - the self-important Mr Twite, last seen in "Black Hearts in Battersea"!

But Dido is not entirely alone; there is the blind, but kindly Tom Firkin, the terrified Cris and his mysterious "Aswell", Yan and his band of smuggling "Gentlemen" and of course Lord Sope and his bun-loving elephant Rachel. But into these friends and allies Aiken still places a sense of displacement for young Dido, a feeling of being a cuckoo in a nest that does not belong to her, though at the conclusion of the story one gets the hope that this will not always be so, as a past friend comes in search of her...

In many ways "The Cuckoo Tree" is quite different from the previous books in the series, despite the traditional story of the Hanoverian plot and its increasingly dubious means of putting Prince George on the throne (if you thought the giant gun was extreme, wait till you've seen what they've cooked up here!) But the cast of characters in "The Cuckoo Tree" is much more vast than usual, to the point where it got difficult to keep track of them all, and certain parts a little darker than usual, with the use of witchcraft and attempted murder. Furthermore, some ideas, such as Aswell, Tante's eventual fate, and Dido's increasing loneliness are more suited to an older audience than the light-heartedness of the former books. But for me anyway, these deeper levels only make the books more fascinating, and I hope the trend continues in further books in the series.

2003-11-28 | Raye (New Zealand = Middle Earth!) | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 4

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Suspenseful, eerie but Dido brings out the good nature in it
This book was rather scary, and it continues in the fantastical tradition of The Stolen Lake. This does nothing to diminish its excellence, though. Perhaps very young children shouldn't read it, because it only really gets into the fun, rollicking Aiken tradition towards the end, before which point the reader has been thoroughly freaked out and learned to trust no-one. I should say that this is best enjoyed as a die-hard fan, but probably only a fan would read this far ahead in the series, so I do highly recommend this book. Witches, smugglers, hallucinogenic nuts and a small town whose folk all seem to be decidedly untrustworthy set the initial flavour of this book. When reading it, I saw the parts where Dido was with Mr. Firkin as the "safe" parts, because I knew nothing would happen to her, but whenever she left his company I started worrying INSANELY. This was the first book where I wasn't sure that everything would be all right in the end. I mean, obviously it would for Dido - but what about Captain Hughes?

But once Dido, Cris and Tobit team up with the Wineberry boys (who are totally loveable) things get back to normal, or relatively so, and it becomes a fun romp to the end. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has read and liked the other books, but I don't think that someone who just picks it up randomly would enjoy it as much, because the style of writing needs to be accustomed to. For all fans - READ THIS ONE TOO!!!

2001-07-26 (Toronto, Canada) | Helpful Votes: 6 | Rating: 4

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Black Hearts in Battersea

Product Details

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• ISBN13: 9780395971284
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Description

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 escapes a series of madcap close calls and dangerous run-ins. In a time and place where villains do nothing halfway, Simon is faced with wild wolves, poisoned pies, kidnapping, and a wrecked ship. This is a cleverly contrived tale of intrigue and misadventure.

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Customer Reviews

Good Hearts at Amazon
I went to Amazon to order this book, as I had found copies of the other two books in the Joan Aiken trilogy from when my children were young, but could not find our old copy of Black Hearts in Battersea. I was amazed and delighted to find a copy on offer for one cent. I could hardly believe it, but ordered it anyway. It arrived promptly and in excellent condition. I paid $3.99 for S & H, so the whole deal cost $4 and gave my eleven-year-old granddaughter enormous pleasure. Thank you!

2009-08-17 | Calendar creature (Berkeley, California) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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On with the Wolves!
Joan Aiken, Black Hearts in Battersea (Houghton Mifflin, 1964)

The second novel in Joan Aiken's Wolves saga follows Simon, the woods-dwelling boy from The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, who heads off to London to meet up with Dr. Field and get some formal instruction in painting. When he gets to the roominghouse where Field directed him, however, he finds very little trace of the man, and the Twites, owners of the house, swear he's never been there. Simon sets up in what he is sure was Field's old room and, while trying to gain admission to the academy and find himself a job, looks into Field's disappearance-- which gets him in much hotter water than he ever imagined.

I actually like this one better than its far more famous predecessor; Aiken dispenses with a good deal of the setup, or shifts it into conversations and observation later in the book. Aiken had got her sea legs under her, as it were, and things pick up nicely about thirty pages in. The world of the Wolves is fascinating; if you read the first book in third or fourth grade (didn't we all?) and never got round to the rest of the series, it's very good stuff. Aiken's characters are quick, and most of them sharp as well. She puts them into interesting situations, keeps building her alternate England, and lets the story tell itself. What more could you ask for in a kids' book? *** ½

2007-04-13 | xterminal (Cleveland, OH) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 4

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not worth the effort
I saw this book when I was a child and wanted to read it then (it had a cool cover with a kind of blimp/airship on it). Unfortunately, life intervened and I only got around to reading it just recently.

Alas! This book was a lot better and more wonder-filled in my imagination than it actually turned out to be.

The story is not very interesting, the setting is not well-painted, the protagonist's adventures are pedestrian, and the whole thing is swiss-cheesed with so much British slang as will likely put an American kid off his feed.

Skip this one.

2006-11-07 (La Mancha and environs) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 2

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So cool!
I loved this book. Simon comes up to London and from the start, people are trying to get rid of him for reasons unknown to him. Dido Twite is introduced in this book and she is a lovely hilarious spirited character. The story is light-hearted and fun to read. The characters are portrayed effectively and such a variety of them! A satisfying ending, though I wasn't completely happy until I read Nightbirds on Nantucket to find out what happens to Dido.

2005-03-17 | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 5

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Black Hearts in Battersea- a Great Book
Black Hearts in Battersea is a great mystery. Simon, the main character goes to Battersea to study art, but his freind isn't there where he told him he'd be. Instead, there's a strange family that tells him that they never heard of his friend. Soon it turns into a plot against the king....and I can't tell you the rest! Just read this book, and you'll enjoy it.

2004-12-27 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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