She went on to write for Vogue, Good Housekeeping, Vanity Fair, Argosy, Women's Own, and many others. A juxtaposition of the banal and bizarre, she forcibly reminds me of Leonora Carrington in her displacement of the everyday, to align with the warped fabric of reality. After her first husband's death, she supported her family by copyediting at Argosy magazine and an advertising agency before turning to fiction. Aiken is one of those storytellers who have a unique voice - you know immediately its her writing. Features a new introduction by the late author's daughter, Lizza Aiken.īest known for The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Joan Aiken (1924–2004) wrote over a hundred books and won the Guardian and Edgar Allan Poe awards. Here are tales of suspense and the supernatural that will chill, amuse, and exhilarate. Here is the whisper in the night, the dog whose loyalty outlasted death, the creak upstairs, that half-remembered ghost story that won't let you sleep, the sound that raises gooseflesh, the wish you'd checked the lock on the door before dark fell. 'Fantasy is combined with magic, myth and adventure to form weird, wonderful and immersive tales.'- For Book's Sake have a dream-like quality executed with a brevity and wit that is a testament to her skill as a story-teller.'- California Literary Review 'Aiken's pastoral meadows and circus chaos, gothic grotesques and quirky romances.

'Will appeal to readers of short stories and literary fiction. Also see: SC Florists SC Newspaper Obituaries, Death Notices Aiken Obituaries. Aiken writes with surpassing spirit and alertness, her elegant restraint and dry wit never fail to leave their mark.'- Kirkus Reviews Douglas Duane Newman, 74, of New Castle, passed away Tuesday, January 3. 'Wildly inventive, darkly lyrical, and always surprising.

The People in the Castle by Joan Aiken