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Black Hearts in Battersea, by Joan Aiken
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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.
- Sales Rank: #299122 in Books
- Published on: 1999-10-25
- Released on: 1999-10-25
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 7.63" h x .58" w x 5.13" l, .53 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 240 pages
About the Author
Joan Aiken, daughter of the American writer Conrad Aiken, was born in Rye, Sussex, England, and has written more than sixty books for children, including The Wolves of Willoughby Chase.
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
A wonderful adventure
By A Customer
This is a wonderful adventure with the sense of fun that The Littles shares. It has the character of a Dickens tale and an innocent charm beyond that. My eleven-year-old loved it! He couldn't put it down and would rate it a 5 star book. The twists and turns in plot are a bit predictable for an adult, but are pure excitement for a child. The charm of it makes it pleasant reading for all ages.
27 of 27 people found the following review helpful.
The Next Installment in a Fantastic Adventure
By R. M. Fisher
"Black Hearts in Battersea" is the second book in Joan Aiken's beloved "Wolves" saga, beginning with "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase" and continuing in "Nightbirds in Nantucket". Each book can be read separately and out of order (ie, each is a separate story, not one big story broken into several parts), linked by re-appearing characters, plot lines and locations. Each is set in a cleverly devised "parallel universe" where historical figures and events are changed from what we would recognise in our own history books. In this case, the action takes place in London, where Britain is ruled by good King James III and plauged by maurauding wolves immigrating from Russia, with other little snippets of an alternative history slipped in to give the book a whimsical, but authentic air. Anyone who has read Diana Wynne Jones's "Chrestomanci" books, or Phillip Pullman's "Northern Lights" will have no trouble adapting to this new environment, but those who haven't might be in for a pleasent surprise when they discover some of the little gems Aiken throws in: next to the familiar sights of Hyde Park and St Paul's Cathedral are places such as Battersea Castle on the Thames, made of pinkish stone, and made 'to look like a great half-open rose.' With such a fascinating world to explore, it hardly seems to matter whether there's a story or not.
But of course there is, and it perfectly combines with the backdrop Aiken sets for it. Young Simon the half-wild goose-boy, last seen being offered a painting career by Dr Field in "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase" arrives in London to begin his education at the Art Academy in Chelsea. But things are set to go wrong from the very beginning. On reaching Dr Field's described boarding house, there is no sign of him, and the family Twite insists that they've never heard of him. Befriending their youngest daughter, the rude, filthy, brattish Dido Twite, Simon gradually begins to make his way around in London and at the Art Academy - discovering some very suspicious things concerning the Twites in the meanwhile.
He meets up with his old friend from the Poor Farm where he grew up: the lovely Sophie, who is now the handmaiden of the Duchess of Battersea, and with the young Duke-to-be Justin, a somewhat miserable and pathetic boy. In his ever-growing adventures, including visits with the eccentric Duke of Battersea, strange occurances at the Twites, and a highly enjoyable visit to the Fair, Simon comes to uncover a terrible Hanoverian plot to overthrow the king, and the secret to his own mysterious past. With plenty of wolves, fireworks, shipwrecks, kidnappings, suberfuges, maroonings, hot air balloons, explosions, false identities, lucky escapes and poisoned mince pies, "Black Hearts in Battersea" is a great read, and even better if it's read aloud, either to your own kids or a classroom (the lower classes's Cockney accents in particular are wonderfully created in Aiken's language).
Of course, it is unashamedly filled with quirks, coincidences and long stretches of credibilty that will have anyone over the age of eight that enjoy nice, sensible stories raising an eyebrow in skepticism. To read the book critically would destroy any enjoyment one might have of it, as it is most certainly not to be taken too seriously. How could you when you have lines like: "My own dear husband's dead brother's long-lost child!" Just sit back and enjoy the story, complete with its exaggerations and unlikelihoods, as it harks back to another era where such occurances were taken dead-seriously.
The "Wolves Saga" is a little known, but fantastic series, and I'm sure the previously-mentioned authors (Diana Wynne Jones and Phillip Pullman) owe a lot to Aiken's methods of alternative-history, as she is the first "modern" writer to the best of my knowledge to instigate such a device. Her characters are great fun (though Bonnie and Sylvia of "Wolves of Willoughby Chase" were sadly missed) and her stories filled with non-stop excitement and discovery.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
Plots afoot and foiled in an alernate England
By Chrijeff
This is a direct sequel to "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase," which took place about a year before. In it, for the first time, we learn that Aiken's world is not our own, but an alternate reality in which the Stuarts kept the British throne; the King is James III, the "Hanoverian Wars" were fought some 15 years earlier to keep him in office, and the "Pretender" is "Bonnie Prince Georgie over the water," who is supported at home by a conspiracy of Hanoverians. Simon, the young orphan hero of "Wolves," is now 15, and comes to London to study painting and lodge with Dr. Gabriel Field, whom he befriended in the previous book. When he finds the doctor's lodgings (not without a good deal of misdirection, which proves to be enemy action), not only is Field not there, but everyone insists he never was. Bewildered, Simon manages to gain entry to the art school in Battersea, where he deeply impresses the master and meets Justin, the thoroughly untalented nephew of the Duke of Battersea, whose castle lies directly across the Thames. He soon makes the acquaintance of the Batterseas themselves, a delightfully foggy middle-aged couple (the Duke is a keen natural scientist and experimenter in gas balloons, and his lady has such a horror of boredom that she carries an arsenal of amusements wherever she goes, including the opera), and discovers to his delight that his dear friend Sophie, whom he knew in the orphanage before running away at the age of eight, is now the Duchess's lady's-maid. His friendship with his landlord's slangy small daughter, the neglected Dido Twite, leads him to the discovery of an arsenal of guns and pikes in the Twites' cellar and the realization that the family is Hanoverian--a persuasion shared, as it proves, by just about every servant in Battersea Castle (though not at the Duke's country house in Chippings). After he, Sophie, and the art students foil two attempts on the Batterseas' lives, he learns of a conspiracy to assassinate King Jamie, but is kidnapped to sea before he can warn anyone. Dido and Justin, stowing away on the ship, contrive to rescue him, there's a fire and wreck in a savage storm, and after a series of revelations that would do credit (once again) to Dickens, the conspirators come to their deserved end (or at least most of them do) and Simon and Sophie learn the secret of their roots. Though the British slang used by many of the characters may be puzzling to American readers, it can be worked out from context, and the plot is fast-paced and builds skilfully toward a climax. Robin Jacques's lovely line illo's add immeasureably to the story. "Battersea" defies the maxim that sequels are always inferior to the original. A great read-aloud that all families should own.
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