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The Kingdom and the Cave

Joan Aiken

FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE

'She was a literary treasure, and her books will continue to delight for years to come' PHILIP PULLMAN
'Witty and endlessly inventive' CHRIS RIDDELL

'The Under People. They live in a huge Cave. They are thought to be boring upwards. Giant worms and flying ants. Underground magic.'

Mickle, the palace cat, knows the kingdom is in danger. He can feel it in his whiskers and he has found a mysterious note in the royal library... (Yes, of course he can read, and speak - if he chooses to!) Mickle can't trust the King and Queen with his mission, so he and Prince Michael, with the help of their animal friends (and quite a bit of magic!), set out on a perilous quest to find the sinister Under People, discover their secret power and save the Kingdom of Astalon.

In her first novel, written when she was only a teenager, Joan Aiken showcases the imagination, wit and storytelling zest that would lead to classics like Arabel's Raven and The Wolves of Willoughby Chase.

  • Classification : General & Literary Fiction
  • Pub Date : NOV 5, 2015
  • Imprint : Virago
  • Page Extent : 192
  • Binding : PB
  • ISBN : 9780349005874
  • Price : INR 450
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Joan Aiken

Joan Aiken English-born daughter of American poet Conrad Aiken began her writing career in the 1950s. Working for Argosy magazine as a copy editor but also as the anonymous author of articles and stories to fill up their pages she was adept at inventing a wealth of characters and fantastic situations and went on to produce hundreds of stories for Good Housekeeping Vogue Vanity Fair and many other magazines. Some of those early stories became novels such as The Silence of Herondale first published fifty years ago in 1964. Although her first agent famously told her to stick to short stories saying she would never be able to sustain a full-length novel Joan Aiken went on to win the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize for The Whispering Mountain and the Edgar Alan Poe award for her adult novel Night Fall. Her best known children's novel The Wolves of Willoughby Chase was acclaimed by Time magazine as 'a genuine small masterpiece'. In 1999 she was awarded an MBE for her services to children's literature and although best known as a children's writer Joan Aiken wrote many adult novels both modern and historical with her trademark wit and verve. Many have a similar gothic flavour to her children's writing and were much admired by readers and critics alike. As she said 'The only difference I can see is that children's books have happier endings than those for adults.' You have been warned . . .

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