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  • Published: 1 April 2005
  • ISBN: 9780099477396
  • Imprint: Red Fox
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $24.00

The Stolen Lake




Dido Twite in American New Cumbria on her wildest adventure yet.

Aboard the man o`war, the Thrush, on the way back to London from Nantucket, Dido and crew are summoned to the aid of the tyrannical Queen of New Cumbria who has appealed to England as her oldest ally for help - someone has stolen her lake. Her island is an infernal place with a suspicious lack of girl children, where birds called Aurocs carry off men and fish eat human flesh, streets are cobbled in silver and thirteen active volcanoes keep the citizens in a state of constant apprehension. Dido is abducted twice and has many dangers to overcome, before she can return to England on the Thrush.
Fitting in between NIGHTBIRDS ON NANTUCKET and LIMBO LODGE, THE STOLEN LAKE can be read as an independent story.

  • Published: 1 April 2005
  • ISBN: 9780099477396
  • Imprint: Red Fox
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $24.00

About the author

Joan Aiken

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 1962 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.

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