Aiken, Joan

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

I was disappointed with this book. The title was very intriguing, but the author unfortunately seems to have used all her imagination in naming the book and had none left for the writing of it. It was terribly predictable and felt like she'd drawn scenes from every sad orphan book written for children and molded them together. Also, I kept expecting the wolves to come into the story somewhere but aside from frightening the characters twice at the beginning of the story, they never showed up again. From the title, I thought they'd end up being in league with the evil governess but that was a far more imaginative plot than this author had time for. Children who are just beginning chapter books may enjoy this story, but anyone over the age of 12 will be bored by it.

I have just checked, and this book was first published in 1962, which may explain some of the dullness, but I think it is still no excuse for the author to have been named a Member of the Order of the British Empire unless the rest of her books are much better than this one, of which I admit to having doubts. Our library apparently does not have any more books by this author, which helps confirm my suspicions. On to the next author!