The Serial Garden - Softcover

Best known for The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Joan Aiken (1924-2004) wrote over a hundred books. After her first husband's death, she supported her family by copyediting at Argosy magazine and an advertising agency, then began publishing fiction. She went on to write for Vogue, Good Housekeeping, Vanity Fair, Argosy, Women's Own, and many others.

Joan Aiken is a superb storyteller who refusal to skimp on sophisticated language, and the Armitage parents' droll indifference, is guaranteed to give children and parents a Ready Brek glow * The Times, Children's Book of the Week * A delightful summary of one side of Aiken's talent: whimsical, funny, a series of brilliantly imaginative ideas stitched together with dream logic... It is the mixture of irrepressible gaiety and invention with the tragic that makes Aiken one of the great children's authors...impossible to calculate the number of people who have enjoyed her books - who have had some magic injected into the mundane * Sunday telegraph * A writer of wild humour and unrestrained imagination * Oxford Companion to Children's Literature * Often bonkers stories, always written with cut-glass precision . . . Aiken is a superb storyteller * The Times * Inexhaustibly imaginative, Aiken was one of the twentieth century's greatest children's authors. Witty, zany and entirely sane, this is a necklace of diamonds -- Amanda Craig * New Statesman * A delightful whimsical set of stories about young Mark and Harriet Armitage and the fantastical things that just happen to them, where if the lawn is full of unicorns you can count on their father to rush out and try to stop them eating the roses. These stories are funny and often unexpectedly poignant. They also don't have a wasted word or scrap of information. They're both charming and genuine in a way that few things manage -- Jo Walton A writer of wild humour and unrestrained imagination * Oxford Companion to Children's Literature * She was a consummate story-teller, one that each generation discovers anew -- Amanda Craig * The Times * Joan Aiken's invention seemed inexhaustible, her high spirits a blessing, her sheer storytelling zest a phenomenon. She was a literary treasure, and her books will continue to delight for many years to come -- Philip Pullman What a thrill to discover this gem from the witty and endlessly inventive Joan Aiken -- Chris Riddell