Book description
'Wait, wait! Save us! What'll we do?'
Simon is determined to become a painter when he grows up so he sets
off to London to make his fortune. But the city is plagued by wolves
and mysterious disappearances. The Twite household, where Simon is
lodging, seems particularly shifty. Before he even gets a chance to
open his glistening new paints Simon stumbles right into the centre of
a plot to kill the King. And worse than that Simon is kidnapped and
sent to sea! Luckily there are two friendly stowaways aboard - the
feisty Dido Twite and the spoiled young Justin. But when the ship
catches fire things look pretty dire. Can they escape? Will they save
the king in time?
BACKSTORY: Test your knowledge of Black Hearts in Battersea
and play the name game.
Joan Aiken was born in Sussex in 1924. She said, "There were
very few children of my age for miles around so books were my
friends". She grew up eager to be a writer "What I wanted to
do was give somebody else the absolute joy and excitement and pleasure
that I had myself". Aiken wrote over a hundred books for young
readers and adults. She is most famous for creating a historical period
that never existed that began with
The Wolves Of Willoughby Chase
(1962) and continued with
Black Hearts In Battersea
(1964),
The Whispering Mountain
(1968), for which she won the Guardian children's book prize, and
Dido And Pa
(1986). Joan Aiken died in 2004. For information on all her books see
www. joanaiken. com
