Editions

Midwinter Nightingale

Midwinter Nightingale

King Richard, son of James III lies gravely ill and there are rumours that the king's enemy, the Duchess of Burgundy, is preparing an imminent invasion. The ancient crown of Alfred must be found so King Richard can pass it on to his successor. Is Simon, Duke of Battersea and friend of the king, next in line to the throne or will the evil werewolf Baron Magnus Rudh succeed in his plot to make his son, Lot, king? To add further complications, Dido Twite, held prisoner by the Baron and the Duchess, does not know the whereabouts of either Simon or the dying king: can she escape in time to find and warn them of the treachery afoot? This adventure with a truly galloping plot and breath-taking situations will delight all fans of Joan Aiken's books

Reviews

  • A swashbuckling drama that shows that Aiken's imagination never dimmed

    Nicolette Jones, The Sunday Times

  • Playful, urgent and wildly inventive, Aiken's language is always potent. Readers with a taste for mystery and complexity will find much to savour

    Publishers Weekly

  • As fantastic as any of its predecessors . . . Richly imagined and superbly told, this adventure is a welcome extension to the series and will doubtless gather new readers to boot

    John Malam, Manchester Evening News

  • A writer of wild humour and unrestrained imagination

    Oxford Companion to Children's Literature

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About the Author

Joan Aiken

Joan Delano Aiken (1924-2004) was the daughter of the American poet, Conrad Aiken. Joan had a variety of jobs, including working for the BBC, the United Nations Information Centre and then as features editor for a short story magazine. Her first children's novel, The Kingdom of the Cave, was published in 1960. Joan Aiken wrote over a hundred books for young readers and adults and is recognized as one of the classic authors of the twentieth century. Her best-known books are those in the James III saga, of which The Wolves of Willoughby Chase was the first title, published in l962 and awarded the Lewis Carroll prize. Both that and Black Hearts in Battersea have been filmed. Her books are internationally acclaimed and she received the Edgar Allan Poe Award in the United States as well as the Guardian Award for Fiction in this country for The Whispering Mountain. In 1999 Joan Aiken was awarded an MBE for her services to children's books.

Joan Aiken

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