AIKEN, Joan (Delano) 1924-

PERSONAL: Born September 4, 1924, in Rye, Sussex, England; daughter of Conrad Potter (a poet) and Jessie (McDonald) Aiken; married Ronald George Brown (a journalist), July 7, 1945 (deceased, 1955); married Julius Goldstein (a painter), September 2, 1976; children: (first marriage) John Sebastian, Elizabeth Delano. Education: Wychwood School, Oxford, 1936-40. Politics: Liberal. Religion: Agnostic.

ADDRESSES: Home—The Hermitage, East St., Petworth, West Sussex GU28 0AB, England; and New York, NY. Agent—Brandt & Brandt, 1501 Broadway, New York, NY 10036.

CAREER: British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC), London, England, staff, 1942-43; Ministry of Information, London, c. 1943; United Nations Information Office, London, information officer, then librarian, 1943-49; Argosy (magazine), features editor, 1955-60; J. Walter Thompson Advertising Agency, copywriter 1960-61; fulltime writer, 1961—. Lynchburg College, Virginia, writer-in-residence, 1988.

MEMBER: Writers Guild, Society of Authors, Mystery Writers of America, PEN, Crime Writers Association.

AWARDS, HONORS: Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, 1965, for The Wolves of Willoughby Chase; Carnegie Medal honor book, 1968, for The Whispering Mountain; Guardian Award, 1969, for The Whispering Mountain; Edgar Allan Poe Award, best juvenile mystery, Mystery Writers of America, 1972, for Night Fall; New York Times outstanding book, 1974, for Midnight Is a Place; The Skin Spinners was included in the American Institute of Graphic Arts Book Show, 1975; awarded Member of the Order of the British Empire (M.B.E.) for services to children's literature.

WRITINGS:

JUVENILE FICTION

All You've Ever Wanted and Other Stories, J. Cape (London, England), 1953.

More Than You Bargained For and Other Stories, J. Cape (London, England), 1955, Abelard (New York, NY),1957.

The Kingdom and the Cave, illustrated by Dick Hart, Abelard (New York, NY), 1960.

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, J. Cape (London, England), 1962, Doubleday (Garden City, NY), 1963.

Black Hearts in Battersea, illustrated by Robin Jacques, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1964.

Nightbirds on Nantucket, illustrated by Robin Jacques, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1966.

The Whispering Mountain, illustrated Frank Bozzo, J. Cape (London, England), 1968, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1969.

PLAYS

Winterthing: A Child's Play (first produced in London, England, by Puffin Drama Group at Young Vic Theatre, 1970), illustrated by Arvis Stewart, Holt (New York, NY), 1972.

The Mooncusser's Daughter (first produced in London at Unicorn Theatre, 1973), Viking, 1973.

Street (first produced in 1977), illustrated by A. Stewart, Viking (New York, NY), 1978.

Moon Mill, first produced at Unicorn Theatre, London, England, 1982.

A Necklace of Raindrops, and Other Stories, illustrated by Jan Pienkowski, J. Cape (London, England), 1968, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1969.

A Small Pinch of Weather, and Other Stories, illustrated by Patricia Marriott, J. Cape (London, England), 1969.

Night Fall, Macmillan (London), 1969, Holt, 1970.

Armitage, Armitage, Fly away Home, illustrated by Betty Fraser, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1970.

Smoke from Cromwell's Time, and Other Stories, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1970.

The Cuckoo Tree, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1971.

The Kingdom under the Sea and Other Stories, illustrated by Jan Pienkowski, J. Cape (London, England), 1971.

All and More (short stories; includes All You've EverWanted and More Than You Bargained For), J. Cape (London, England), 1971.

Arabel's Raven, illustrated by Quentin Blake, BBC Publications, 1972, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1974, hardcover edition published as Tales of Arabel's Raven, J. Cape (London, England), 1974.

A Harp of Fishbones and Other Stories, J. Cape (London, England), 1972.

The Escaped Black Mamba, illustrated by Quentin Blake, BBC Publications, 1973.

The Bread Bin, illustrated by Quentin Blake, BBC Publications, 1974.

Midnight Is a Place, Viking (New York, NY), 1974.

Not What You Expected: A Collection of Short Stories, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1974.

Tale of a One-Way Street (stories), J. Cape (London, England), 1976, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1980.

The Skin Spinners (poems), Viking (London, England), 1976.

A Bundle of Nerves (horror stories), Gollancz (London, England), 1976.

Mortimer's Tie, illustrated by Quentin Blake, BBC Publications, 1976.

Go Saddle the Sea, illustrated by Patricia Marriott, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1977.

The Faithless Lollybird and Other Stories, illustrated by Patricia Marriott, J. Cape (London, England), 1977, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1978.

Mice and Mendelson, J. Cape (London, England), 1978.

The Spiral Stair, BBC Publications, 1979.

Mortimer and the Sword Excalibur, illustrated by Quentin Blake, BBC Publications, 1979.

Arabel and Mortimer, illustrated by Quentin Blake, BBC Publications, 1980.

The Shadow Guests, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1980. A Touch of Chill, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1980.

The Stolen Lake, illustrated by Patricia Marriott, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1981.

Mortimer's Portrait on Glass, illustrated by Quentin Blake, BBC Publications, 1982.

The Mystery of Mr. Jones's Disappearing Taxi, illustrated by Quentin Blake, BBC Publications, 1982.

Bridle the Wind, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1983.

Mortimer's Cross (also contains Mortimer's Portrait on Glass and The Mystery of Mr. Jones's Disappearing Taxi), J. Cape (London, England), 1983, Harper, 1984.

The Kitchen Warriors (stories), illustrated by Jo Worth, BBC Publications, 1984.

Up the Chimney Down (stories), illustrated by Patricia Marriott, J. Cape (London, England), 1984, Harper, 1985.

Fog Hounds, Wind Cat, Sea Mice (stories), Macmillan (New York NY), 1984.

Mortimer Says Nothing (stories), J. Cape (London, England), 1985, Harper, 1986.

The Last Slice of Rainbow: And Other Stories, illustrated by Margaret Walty, J. Cape (London, England), 1985.

Past Eight O'Clock (stories), J. Cape (London, England), 1986.

Dido and Pa, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1986.

The Teeth of the Gale, Harper (New York, NY), 1988.

A Goose on Your Grave (horror stories), Gollancz (London, England), 1987.

The Moon's Revenge, Knopf (New York, NY), 1988.

Return to Harken House, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1988, published as Voices, Hippo Books (London, England), 1988.

The Erl King's Daughter, Barron, 1989.

Give Yourself a Fright (short stories), Delacorte (New York, NY), 1989.

A Foot in the Grave (contains "Cold Harbour," "Movable Eyes," "Beezlebub's Baby," "A Foot in the Grave," "Light Work," "An Ill Wind," "Bindweed," and "Amberland"), J. Cape (London, England), 1990, Viking, 1991.

A Fit of Shivers: Tales for Late at Night (short stories; includes "The L-shaped Grave," "The Shrieking Door," and "Watkyn, Comma"), Gollancz (London, England), 1990, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1992.

The Shoemaker's Boy, illustrations by Alan Marks, Simon & Schuster, 1991.

The Haunting of Lamb House, J. Cape (London, England), 1991, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1993.

Is, J. Cape (London, England), 1992, published as IsUnderground, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1993.

A Creepy Company: Ten Tales of Terror (contains "Dead Man's Lane," "My Disability," "Toomie," "The Thing-in-Waiting," "They Have Found Out," "The Ferry," "Little Nym," "The Traitor," "Die from Day to Day," "Fastness of Light"), Bantam, 1995.

The Cockatrice Boys, Tor (New York, NY), 1995.

The Jewel Seed, Hodder Headline (London, England), 1997.

Moon Cake, Hodder (London, England), 1998.

Limbo Lodge, J. Cape (London, England), 1999, published as Dangerous Games, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1999.

In Thunder's Pocket, J. Cape (London, England), 2000.

Shadows and Moonshine: Stories, David R. Godine (Boston, MA), 2001.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, illustrated by Belinda Downes, DK Publishers (New York, NY), 2002.

Midwinter Nightingale, Delacorte (New York, NY), 2003.

ADULT FICTION

The Silence of Herondale, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1964.

The Fortune Hunters, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1965.

Beware of the Bouquet, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1966, published as The Trouble with Product X, Gollancz (London, England), 1966.

Dark Interval, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1967, published as Hate Begins at Home, Gollancz (London, England), 1967.

The Ribs of Death, Gollancz (London, England), 1967, published as The Crystal Crow, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1968.

The Windscreen Weepers, and Other Tales of Horror and Suspense,Gollancz (London, England), 1969, published as Green Flash, and Other Tales of Horror, Suspense, and Fantasy, Holt (New York, NY), 1971.

The Embroidered Sunset, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1970.

The Butterfly Picnic, Gollancz (London, England), 1970, published as A Cluster of Separate Sparks, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1972.

Died on a Rainy Sunday, Holt (New York, NY), 1972.

Voices in an Empty House, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1975.

Castle Barebane, Viking (New York, NY), 1976.

Last Movement, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1977.

The Five-Minute Marriage, Gollancz (London, England), 1977, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1978.

The Smile of the Stranger, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1978.

A Touch of Chill: Tales for Sleepless Nights (horror stories), Gollancz (London, England), 1979, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1980.

The Weeping Ash, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1980.

The Girl from Paris, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1982, published as The Young Lady from Paris, Gollancz (London, England), 1982.

A Whisper in the Night: Tales of Terror and Suspense, Gollancz (London, England), 1982, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1983.

Foul Matter, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1983.

Mansfield Revisited, Gollancz (London, England), 1984, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1985.

If I Were You, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1987, published as Deception, Gollancz (London, England), 1987.

Blackground, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1989.

Jane Fairfax: Jane Austen's Emma through Another'sEyes (a sequel to the novel Emma by Jane Austen), Gollancz (London, England), 1990, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1991.

Morningquest, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1993.

Eliza's Daughter (a sequel to the novel Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen), St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1994.

The Winter Sleepwalker, J. Cape (London, England), 1994.

Cold Shoulder Road, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1996.

Emma Watson: The Watsons Completed, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1996.

The Youngest Miss Ward, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1998.

Lady Catherine's Necklace, Gollancz (London, England), 2000.

Shadows and Moonshine (stories), David R. Godine (Boston, MA), 2001.

CONTRIBUTOR TO ANTHOLOGIES

A Treasury of Christmas Stories, chosen by Sian Hardy, illustrated by Kate Aldous, Kingfisher, 1994.

Dread and Delight: A Century of Children's GhostStories, edited by Philippa Pearce, Oxford University Press, 1995.

Horror Stories, collected by Susan Price and Harry Horse, Kingfisher, 1995.

A Treasury of Pony Stories, chosen by Linda Jennings, illustrated by Anthony Lewis, Kingfisher, 1996.

Night Terror Stories of Shadow and Substance, edited by Lois Duncan, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1996.

Breaking the Spell: Tales of Enchantment, selected by Sally Grindley, illustrated by Susan Field, Kingfisher, 1997.

Bruce Coville's Book of Nightmares II: More Tales toMake You Scream, compiled and edited by Bruce Coville, assisted by Lisa Meltzer, illustrated by John Pierard, Scholastic, 1997.

The Twentieth Century Children's Book Treasury's Celebrated Picture Books and Stories to Read Aloud, selected by Janet Shulman, Knopf (New York, NY), 1998.

A Treasury of Pirate Stories, edited by Tony Bradman, Kingfisher, 1999.

OTHER

(Translator from the French) Sophie De Segur, TheAngel Inn, illustrated by Patricia Marriott, J. Cape (London, England), 1976, Stemmer House (Owings Mills, MD), 1978.

The Way to Write for Children, Elm Tree Books (London, England), 1982, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1983.

Contributor to periodicals, including New Statesman, Times Literary Supplement, Times Educational Supplement, Washington Post, Good Housekeeping, Woman's Journal, Children's Literature in Education, and Quarterly Bulletin of the Library of Congress.

ADAPTATIONS: Midnight Is a Place was adapted as a thirteen-part serial and broadcast on Southern Television in England, 1977; Armitage, Armitage, Fly Away Home was adapted for broadcast on BBC-TV, 1978;The Wolves of Willoughby Chase was adapted for film by Atlantic/Zenith, 1988; Apple of Discord and The Rose of Puddle Fratrum were adapted from Aiken's short stories and broadcast on BBC-TV. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and A Necklace of Raindrops and Other Stories were released on audiocassette by Caedmon, 1978. Return to Harken House has also been published as a sound recording. Black Hearts in Battersea was adapted by BBC, 1996.

SIDELIGHTS: Joan Aiken is best known for inventing the "unhistorical romance, . . . a new genre which far outdoes its conventional counterpart in inventiveness and wit," according to New Statesman contributor Patricia Craig. These tales combine traditional elements of fairy tale, romance, and myth with fast-paced action and humor. They are set in an imaginary time period during the reign of King James III in England, described by Susan Dooley in the Washington Post Book World as "a surreal version of Dickens' 19th century." Aiken began her alternate history in The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and continued it in several other novels, including Black Hearts in Battersea, Nightbirds on Nantucket, and The Stolen Lake.

As the daughter of the American poet Conrad Aiken and the stepdaughter of the English writer Martin Armstrong, Joan Aiken was surrounded by literary models from birth. At the age of five she decided upon a literary career and began writing her first stories and poems. Her first acceptance came while she was still in school; two of her poems were published in a prestigious little magazine, the Abinger Chronicle, edited by E. M. Forster, Sylvia Sprigge, and Max Beerbohm. Although they paid her, Aiken was made to realize poetry was not a gainful occupation.

Aiken continued to develop her writing after her marriage to journalist Ron Brown, selling several radio scripts and some short stories. When Brown's death in 1955 left her with large debts and two children to support, she went to work as an editor for the short story magazine Argosy. To supplement her editor's wages, she also contributed many short stories to this publication and others. These stories, collected in the volumes More Than You Bargained For and All You've Ever Wanted, became Aiken's first published books. But writing short stories was beginning to feel like a waste of time when she could be writing longer works of fiction for greater returns on expended efforts. With that goal in mind she unearthed the manuscript of a novel written at the age of seventeen. Carefully revised, that manuscript became her first published novel, The Kingdom and the Cave.

Aiken began creating her scrambled history of England in her next novel, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. Here she introduced what would become the standard elements of several of her novels: an English countryside terrorized by wolves, a colorful London underworld, the Stuart King James III, and the Hanoverian rebels determined to assassinate him. Although The Wolves of Willoughby Chase was marketed as a children's book, it was read and enjoyed by adults as well. Its success enabled Aiken to devote herself to writing full time.

The books Is Underground and Cold Shoulder Road continue the saga. In Is Underground, Is Twite sets off for London in search of her missing cousin Arun. There she is enticed to join other children on a journey to a fantasy Playland. But the destination turns out to be an underground city filled with child slaves laboring in mines and factories. Michael Dirda claimed in the Washington Post Book World that "Is Underground is . . . a heart-stopping adventure, a portrait gallery of eccentrics and madmen, a moral fable about the way we live now. Only the novel's finale seems a little rushed, a bit pat." A reviewer for Horn Book noted, "Aiken, as usual, tells a rip-roaring good story. Her mastery of dialect and descriptive details give her work a convincing edge that draws readers along." Cold Shoulder Road finds Is and Arun traveling to visit Arun's mother, a member of the Silent Sect religious group, only to discover she has disappeared. They encounter buried treasure, smugglers, giant spiders, and other unsavory characters and fantastic experiences as they search for her.

In their book You're a Brick, Angela! A New Look at Girls' Fiction from 1839 to 1975, Patricia Craig and Mary Cadogan offered an analysis of Aiken's "unhistorical adventure stories." They believed that these stories have "an exuberance, a pantomimic largeness which is . . . effective. There is nothing original about her plots, but she has brought to bear on them a sensibility which is original, if only because of its ability to assimilate, re-channel, enliven, send up, make good use of elements and conventions already traditional. She has effected a fusion of Gothic with Baroque, set off by a manneristic flair for detail."

Cadogan and Craig commented on Aiken's invented time setting: "This device has a great economy: events which take place in an imaginary era obviously are not governed by restrictions of plausibility, either social or temperamental. The period's non-existence serves mainly to emphasize that the stories are not meant to be pegged to the ground, their purpose is to take off as stylishly as possible. In a time that never happened, anything can happen."

Aiken's horror and suspense stories have been as highly praised as her fantasy adventures. Georgess McHargue wrote of Died on a Rainy Sunday in the New York Times Book Review: "A thriller by Joan Aiken is like an ice cream cone. Both must be consumed at a single sitting and both leave a cold but pleasurable feeling in the pit of the stomach." Washington Post Book World contributor Natalie Babbitt explained that Aiken's stories in this genre "do not, any of them, go in much for the blood and gore that passes for horror in the movies these days, nor do any of them deal flat-out with the supernatural, also a common movie gimmick. Rather they run on the gray edge between order and chaos called so aptly the 'twilight zone' by the old television series."

Aiken's ghost stories, too, have eerie and suspenseful qualities. Each of the stories in A Foot in the Grave, stated Publishers Weekly, "are unmistakably scary, with no recourse to false happy endings." All of the classic British stories in Aiken's A Fit of Shivers: Tales for Late at Night have elements of the unexplained—haunted houses, ancient curses, second sight, ghosts—and plots with ironic twists. Similarly, The Winter Sleepwalker contains strange and often humorous stories with varied themes and moods, while in A Creepy Company Aiken again creates believable characters, locations, and situations that are eerie. In The Shoemaker's Boy Jem becomes responsible for caring for his ill mother and his father's business when the father makes a pilgrimage to pray for her recovery. While his father is gone extraordinary events occur involving strange people and a mysterious package.

In any genre, it is Aiken's professional craftsmanship that lifts her stories to the level of fine entertainment, wrote Washington Post Book World contributor Michael Dirda. He concluded, "Joan Aiken can turn her hand to almost anything—mystery, fantasy, suspense, comedy—and nearly always come up with a winner." Aiken has even adapted Jane Austen characters. Her novel Jane Fairfax focuses on the friend and rival of the same name to the heroine of Austen's Emma. The novel traces Jane's growing up, rivalry with Emma, and secret engagement to Frank Churchill. Some reviewers praised Aiken for evoking the spirit of Austen's work, but Danny Karlin claimed in the London Review of Books, that "[Jane Fairfax] wants to be both like Jane Austen (to substitute for the real thing itself) and to revise Jane Austen (to be a real thing itself). Aiken disastrously fails to recognise that these are incompatible aims."

Eliza's Daughter is a sequel to Austen's Sense and Sensibility in which Aiken tells the story of Eliza, the illegitimate daughter of Colonel Brandon's ward. Unlike Sense and Sensibility, this novel employs a first-person narrator and has bolder women. But "what saves the book from lapsing into anachronistic PC parable," according to Peter Kemp of the Times Literary Supplement, "is the galvanizing verve with which Aiken propels its story-line across a wide swathe not only of southern England but of northern Portugal and Spain." In Emma Watson Aiken continues a tale begun in Austen's unfinished novel The Watsons. In The Youngest Miss Ward she imagines the early history of three basic characters in Mansfield Park.

According to critics, Aiken's novel Morningquest is not as well-structured as most of her writing. The novel's protagonist is sixteen-year-old Pandora. After the sudden demise of her mother, Pandora is invited to live with the Morningquests, a large, extremely talented family. However, as the years pass, she learns the family has disturbing secrets.

According to Sarah V. Clere, writing in Dictionary of Literary Biography, Aiken is "one of the most prolific and energetic of living authors." However, "the sheer number of Aiken's books, many of them admittedly written to formula to entertain the reader and support the writer, has hindered an appreciation of her full stature as a serious writer. Nevertheless," Clere continued, "her best work goes beyond mere entertainment to affirm values like courage, resourcefulness, and kindness. Her children's novels especially show that fast-paced entertainment is compatible with serious thematic development, for undergirding the highspirited adventure of her best fiction is a bedrock of humane values."

According to Andrew Kantak in the Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature, Aiken once said that writing for children should be done only for the love of it. She noted that Dickens, Kipling, William Blake, and Lewis Carroll all wrote for children, but they also did other work. Aiken commented, "They wrote, when they did write for children, purely for love. And that is the way children's writing should be done; it should not be done for any other reason."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Authors and Artists for Young Adults, Gale (Detroit, MI), Volume 1, 1989, Volume 25, 1998.

Books for Children, 1960-1965, American Library Association, 1966.

Cadogan, Mary, and Patricia Craig, You're a Brick,Angela! A New Look at Girls' Fiction from 1839 to 1975, Gollancz (London, England), 1976.

Children's Bookshelf, Child Study Association of America/Bantam, 1966.

Children's Literature Review, Gale (Detroit, MI), Volume 1, 1976, Volume 19, 1990.

Contemporary Literary Criticism, Volume 35, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1985.

Cullinan, Bernice E., and Diane G. Person, editors, Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature, Continuum (New York, NY), 2001.

Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 161: BritishChildren's Writers since 1960, First Series, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1996.

Eadkin, Mark K., editor, Good Books for Children, Phoenix Books, 1966.

Egoff, Sheila A., Thursday's Child: Trends and Patterns in Contemporary Children's Literature, American Library Association, 1981.

Haviland, Virginia, editor, Children and Literature:Views and Reviews, Scott, Foresman, 1973.

Jones, Cornelia, and Olivia R. Way, British Children'sAuthors: Interviews at Home, American Library Association, 1976.

Larrick, Nancy, A Parent's Guide to Children's Reading, 3rd edition, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1969.

St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers, 2nd edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1999.

Silvey, Anita, editor, Children's Books and Their Creators, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1995.

Townsend, John Rowe, A Sense of Story: Essays onContemporary Writers for Children, Lippincott (Philadelphia, PA), 1971.

PERIODICALS

Best Sellers, April, 1978.

Booklist, March 15, 1993, Denise Perry Donavin, review of Morningquest, p. 1274.

Book Report, September-October, 1999, Pamela Longbrake, review of Dangerous Games, p. 58.

Books for Keeps, January, 1990, p. 10; July, 1995, p. 12; March, 1996, p. 11.

British Book News, August, 1982.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, April, 1992, p. 197.

Calendar, March-October, 1979.

Chicago Tribune, November 9, 1980.

Children's Books, December 15, 1995, p. 1766.

Children's Literature Association Quarterly, fall, 1980. Children's Literature in Education, spring, 1988.

Growing Point, July, 1978; July, 1981; November, 1983; March, 1988.

Horn Book, October, 1970; October, 1973; April, 1974; August, 1976; December, 1976; April, 1978; December, 1983, Ann A. Flowers, review of Bridle the Wind, p.714; March/April, 1986; November/December, 1986, Ann A. Flowers, review of Dido and Pa, p. 746; July/August, 1992, p. 449; September/October, 1993, Nancy Vasilakis, review of Is Underground, p. 595; May/June, 1996, Ann A. Flowers, review of Cold Shoulder Road, p. 334; January, 1999, review of Dangerous Games, p. 57; fall, 2001, review of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, p. 298.

Junior Bookshelf, February, 1972; August, 1974; June, 1976; October, 1977; August, 1978; February, 1979; August, 1980; October, 1982; February, 1984; December, 1984; February, 1986; April, 1987; August, 1987; August, 1993, p. 147; December, 1994, p. 210; April, 1996, p. 65.

Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 1991, p. 410; March 15, 1993, p. 313; April 15, 1994, p. 490; July 15, 1996, p. 984.

Library Journal, April 15, 1991, Cynthia Johnson Whealler, review of Jane Fairfax, p. 123; May 15, 1994, Cynthia Johnson, review of Eliza's Daughter, p. 96; August, 1996, Susan Hamburger, review of The Cockatrice Boys, p. 120.

Locus, October, 1993, p. 23.

London Review of Books, September 27, 1990, p. 20.

Magpies, July, 1994, p. 30.

National Observer, September 23, 1968.

New Statesman, December 4, 1981.

New Yorker, May 27, 1991, p. 100.

New York Times, December 3, 1987.

New York Times Book Review, July 23, 1967; March 24, 1968; July 23, 1972; May 5, 1974; May 2, 1976; April 27, 1980, Irma Pascal Heldman, review of A Touch of Chill, p. 52; February 14, 1982, Byrna J. Fireside, review of The Stolen Lake; February 7, 1999, Megan Harlan, review of The Youngest Miss Ward, p. 16; December 2, 2001, review of A Necklace of Raindrops: And Other Stories, p. 82.

Observer, April 18, 1982.

Publishers Weekly, March 22, 1991, Sybil Steinberg, review of Jane Fairfax, p. 72; March 16, 1992, review of A Foot in the Grave, p. 80; September 14, 1992, review of A Fit of Shivers: Tales for Late at Night, p. 126; November 9, 1992, p. 74; March 15, 1993, review of Morningquest, p. 69; May 17, 1993, review of Is Underground, p. 80; May 9, 1994, p. 73; May 16, 1994, review of Eliza's Daughter, p. 44; August 12, 1996, review of Emma Watson: The Watson's Completed, p. 66; August 19, 1996, review of The Cockatrice Boys, p. 56; November 16, 1998, review of The Youngest Miss Ward, p. 56; January 11, 1999, review of Dangerous Games, p. 73; November 15, 1999, James Klise, review of The Youngest Miss Ward, p. 68; August 7, 2000, Carolyn Phelan, review of A Necklace of Raindrops, p. 97; December 17, 2001, review of Shadows & Moonshine, p. 94; June 17, 2002, "Summer Sci-fi," p. 67.

Punch, August 15, 1984.

Saturday Review, April 18, 1970; April 17, 1971; May 20, 1972.

School Librarian, February, 1995, p. 20.

School Library Journal, May, 1992, Michael Cart, review of A Foot in the Grave, p. 130; November, 1992, p. 116; May, 1993, Diane C. Hirsch, review of The Haunting of Lamb House, p. 141; June, 1994, Carolyn Nash, review of The Shoemaker's Boy, p. 94; March, 1996, Lisa Dennis, review of Cold Shoulder Road, p. 194; January, 1999, Connie Tyrrell Burns, review of Dangerous Games, p. 124.

Science Fiction and Fantasy, July 15, 1996, p. 1011.

Spectator, December 10, 1994, p. 46.

Times (London), March 5, 1980; February 8, 1982; August 25, 1983; December 27, 1984; October 22, 1988; February 3, 1990; November 15, 1990.

Times Educational Supplement, June 5, 1981; March 6, 1987; March 20, 1998, review of Midnight Is a Place, p. 105; April 23, 1999, p. 27; June 11, 1999, review of Moon Cake and Other Stories, p. 27; July 13, 2001, review of The Song of Mat and Ben, p. 20.

Times Literary Supplement, June 15, 1967; July 2, 1971; December 3, 1971; July 15, 1977; April 7, 1978; March 28, 1980; July 24, 1981; November 28, 1986; February 13, 1987; July 10, 1987; July 31, 1987; May 6, 1988; July 12, 1991, p. 20; January 26, 1996, p. 19; August 5, 1996, p. 17.

Tribune Books (Chicago), July 10, 1988; June 26, 1994, p. 6.

Voice of Youth Advocates, October, 1992, p. 235; June, 1993, p. 85.

Washington Post, July 17, 1987; December 23, 2001, Michael Dirda, review of Shadows and Moonshine, p. T15.

Washington Post Book World, January 8, 1978; May 22, 1980; July 13, 1980; January 13, 1985; June 9, 1985; November 4, 1986; August 14, 1988; October 9, 1988; February 11, 1990; May 9, 1993, p. 15.

Writer, March, 1980; May, 1982; February, 1994, p. 9.

ONLINE

Strange Horizons,http://www.strangehorizons.com/ (October 29, 2001), Gavin J. Grant, interview with Joan Aiken.*