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Kliv in i en oändlig värld av stories

Lyssna när som helst, var som helst

Joan Aiken

In this hilarious classic adventure, an innocent boy and his friends must stop a plot to topple the King of England.

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.

Perfect for fans of Lemony Snicket and Roald Dahl

“It’s a marvel!” —The New Yorker

“A wild yarn, not to be put down once it is started. ” —Washington Post

“A riot of wildly improbable adventures happening to absurd and loveable characters with Dickensian names in a time that never was … Heartrending, hair-raising, rib-tickling, and delightful. ” —New York Times

HMH Books for Young Readers

The Wolves Chronicles

Black Hearts in Battersea

In this fantasy adventure, a young girl visits a land where birds carry off men, fish eat human flesh, and she must rescue a pilfered lake.

Readers who have followed Dido Twite’s escapades in Black Hearts in Battersea and Nightbirds on Nantucket will welcome her return in her wildest escapade 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.

Perfect for fans of Lemony Snicket and Roald Dahl

“Aiken lures us into historical fantasy … our interest never slows. ” —School Library Journal

“The adventure Miss Aiken has dished up … in The Stolen Lake is zanier and more devilishly fiendish than ever. ” —New York Times

The Stolen Lake

Dido Twite, with the help of some sacred shaman healers, must foil a sinister plot to overthrow the king of a remote South Sea island healers

 Sailing the high seas in pursuit of Lord Herodsfoot, roving ambassador to the ageing King James III, Dido Twite’s search has led her to the remote South Sea island of Aratu. She arrives with a new friend she made en route, the enigmatic Dr. Talisman, who is returning to the isle after many years. Soon they discover that there’s something even more dangerous in the ancient rain forest than its poisonous pearl snakes, sting monkeys, and 30-foot-long crocodiles. Dido and Talisman are confronted by the Angrian invaders, who drove the Dilendi natives from their home 400 years earlier. Luckily, Dido befriends the gentle Forest People, who can heal with their magical touch.
 
 When she learns about a plot to overthrow the island’s suffering king, Dido enlists the Forest People to help her thwart the scheme, save the monarch, and reunite him with his long-lost daughter.
 
Dangerous Games is the 5th book in the award-winning Wolves Chronicles, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
 
 This ebook features an illustrated personal history of Joan Aiken including rare images from the author’s estate.

Open Road Media Teen & Tween

Dangerous Games

Dido Twite uncovers a devious plot against the king in this classic children’s adventure set in an alternate Victorian England.

Dido Twite, a roving ambassador to the King of England, is on her way home to London when her friend Captain Hughes is injured in a stagecoach accident. When Dido seeks help, she encounters 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?

The Cuckoo Tree is the sixth book in the award-winning Wolves Chronicles, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

The Cuckoo Tree

A teenage adventurer gets wrapped up in her father’s dastardly schemes in this children’s novel by the author of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase.

Dido Twite is finally back in London and reunited with her old friend Simon, now the Duke of Battersea and a favorite of King Richard. But no sooner does Dido start to settle in than her rascally father, Abednago, appears and drags her off into the night. 

Soon Dido finds herself caught in the midst of another dastardly conspiracy: a Hanoverian plot involving a mysterious double for the king, the miraculous healing powers of music, and a spy network made up of abandoned street children called lollpoops. Meanwhile, out in the forest, starving wolves are closing in on the city . . .

Dido and Pa is the seventh book in the award-winning Wolves Chronicles, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Dido and Pa

The children of London are disappearing—can Is solve the mystery before she vanishes too?

 Is Twite, younger sister of the daring Dido, is on a desperate mission. An uncle she never knew just showed up at the cottage she shares with her sister Penny. He is being pursued by ravening wolves, and before he dies, the uncle begs her to find his missing son—Is’s cousin, Arun.
 
 The quest takes Is to London—a city mysteriously devoid of children, including the king’s only son and heir. Is soon finds herself aboard the Playland Express, a secret midnight train that leaves town once a month, just before the new moon. The kids aboard believe they’re headed to a far-off kingdom filled with fun and games. In reality, Playland is a freezing underground city ruled by the greedy “Gold Kingy,” who has lured the youngsters there under false pretenses. His real objective is to put them to work in the coal mines. But the worst is yet to come: Gold Kingy is none other than Is’s other uncle Roy! Now it’s up to Is to avoid a terrible fate and use her wits, ingenuity, and powers of telepathic communication to free the children.
 
Is Underground is the 8th book in the award-winning Wolves Chronicles, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
 
 This ebook features an illustrated personal history of Joan Aiken including rare images from the author’s estate.

Is Underground

Is Twite and her cousin, Arun, use their telepathic gifts to find Arun’s missing mother in this gripping adventure set in an alternate British kingdom

 When Is Twite and her cousin, Arun, return to Cold Shoulder Road in Folkestone after their astonishing adventures in the North, the town is deserted and Arun’s mother is missing. Some say she took off with the sect Arun was raised in before he ran away. Known as the Silent Folk, members of the group are not allowed to talk and must communicate through sign language. But there are others who insist that Ruth Twite is a witch. To make matters worse, Is’s sister Penny has also vanished, along with the mute Handsel child. The only clue to all of their whereabouts is an elusive stranger called Admiral Fishskin.
 
 When Is and Arun finally track down the cult, Arun discovers that they have new leader. Evil, charismatic Dominic de la Twite plays dangerous mind games and is able to block telepathic communication between Is and Arun. The cousins also find themselves up against a band of smugglers called the Merry Gentry that is using hidden tunnels beneath the city to search for buried treasure.
 
 With its sprawling cast of Dickensian characters and imaginative historical and social setting, this gripping adventure will delight existing fans of the Wolves Chronicles and new readers alike.
 
Cold Shoulder Road is the 9th book in the award-winning Wolves Chronicles, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
 
 This ebook features an illustrated personal history of Joan Aiken including rare images from the author’s estate.