Book description
Dido's sister, Is, travels north to try and find her lost cousin. But
instead of the promised Playland, she discovers an underground kingdom
where children work as slaves in the worst conditions imaginable - under
the rule of the sinister Gold Kingy. . .
Joan Aiken was born in Sussex in 1924. She was the daughter of the
American poet, Conrad Aiken; her sister, Jane Aiken Hodge, is also a
novelist. Before joining the 'family business' herself, 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. Amanda Craig, writing in The Times, said,
'She was a consummate story-teller, one that each generation
discovers anew.' 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.
Joan Aiken was decorated with an MBE for her services to children's
books. She died in 2004.
