Forgotten Book Friday: MIDNIGHT IS A PLACE (1976) by Joan Aiken (1924 - 2004)

Joan Aiken was a prolific and very talented English writer who specialized in creating intriguing books for children and young adults. She also turned out some pretty terrific Gothic romance novels as well as stories based on Jane Austen characters.

I suppose Aiken is most well known and best remembered for the classic, WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE - especially the version with the Edward Gorey illustrations. (My own personal favorite is MIDWINTER NIGHTINGALE (2003), which is part of the 'wolves' series.)

But in truth, Aiken was such a splendid writer that several of her books can be defined as 'classics' including MIDNIGHT IS A PLACE, a historical novel with an intense and very definite Dickensian flavor. This is a decidedly dark and forbidding 19th century 'orphans of the storm' story starring two rather plucky young orphans (Aikens' specialty), one English, one French, who must learn to survive on their own when their cruel guardian's mansion goes up in flames. No real loss since the house was grim and forbidding and falling apart to begin with (as was its owner).

Parent-less, Lucas Bell has been sent to live with his guardian, Sir Randolph Grimsby. Grimsby (you can tell by his name) is a surly, nasty piece of goods who'd won 'his' estate, Midnight Court and a nearby carpet mill which provides all his income, as the result of a crooked wager many years before.

Lucas has lived a sad, solitary existence for two years with no one for company save his humorless tutor, Mr. Oakapple. This all changes one day when little Anna-Marie arrives. At first extremely weepy and not at all the type of child Lucas was hoping to have as a friend (she can barely speak any English), she will soon prove her mettle to the unhappy boy.

Anna-Marie is a French orphan dropped out of the blue on an outraged Sir Randolph's doorstep. Mysteriously, it appears she belongs at Midnight Court but before we can learn the raison d'etre, there is an ugly Twist of Fate to contend with.

One gloomy night Sir Randolph meets his grisly end in a conflagration which destroys Midnight Court. The children's tutor Mr. Oakapple is gravely injured and insensible. The two orphans are cast out into the dingy, unfriendly streets of Blastburn, a dismal industrialized English town where the sun never shines and the steam and smoke clogged skies never clear. With no one to care for them, they must learn to survive on their own.

I know - oh woe is me - but it works.

Most of the townspeople toil in the dreadful carpet mill owned by the late Sir Randolph. The factory is a dark, dangerous and forbidding place, its managers unconcerned with workplace safety - it is the 19th century, after all. Child workers are regularly killed there by the hideous machinery which is used in the manufacturing process.

Author Joan Aiken doesn't stint on any ugly realities when elaborating on the life lived by the downtrodden workers. We were earlier given a grand tour of the terrible building when Lucas is shown over the mill and told (to his dismay) he will someday inherit the business. But since Sir Randolph never paid any back taxes, the whole inheritance situation is mostly moot.

After the fire, neither child is especially eager to work in the factory (and who can blame them?) but they must quickly find shelter and figure out a way to earn some sort of living until Mr. Oakapple, the tutor, is back on his feet and can help Lucas lay claim to the burnt out estate.

The resourceful Anna-Marie is just six years old but clever enough to pick up discarded cigar butts in the streets and fashion them into full cigars which she will sell. Lucas becomes a 'tosher' apprenticed to an ugly unreliable sort who goes through apprentices at a suspiciously fast pace. They will toil in the nightmare world of the town's sewers picking up discarded refuse to sell, occasionally fighting off rats as big as cats and wild rampaging pigs which inhabit the sewers.

How these two children overcome their unfair share of ugly adversity and survive several frightening near-death experiences - one in the factory itself - is a hair-raising, well-told tale by an author who is an old experienced hand at spinning complicated webs full of doom and gloom - though never without a glimmer of sly humor.

MIDNIGHT IS A PLACE has a very Dickensian ending full of happy coincidences and an 'all's well that ends well' good enough for any reader unsettled by the earlier dismal doings.

An engaging book easily read in one evening. It would make for a good read-aloud (not for small children), especially at this time of year. It might also lead to some pretty interesting discussions with older children.

This being Friday, don't forget to check in at Patti's blog, Pattinase, to see what other Forgotten (or Overlooked) books other bloggers are talking about today.

Friday's Forgotten (or Overlooked) Books: EMMA WATSON Jane Austen's Unfinished Novel Completed by Joan Aiken (1996)

Jane Austen left behind two unfinished manuscripts: THE WATSONS and SANDITON. Both works have been finished and published over the years, other authors taking up the stories and continuing them ala Austen with varying degrees of success. After all, who can replace or replicate a genius? Especially such a finely tuned one.

I hadn't read any of the Austen 'continuations' until the name of Joan Aiken entered the mix and knowing of Aiken's finesse with words, I decided to see what she'd made of THE WATSONS. This was a novel begun by Austen in 1803(or 04) and abandoned after only about 1700 words.

The other novel, SANDITON (originally titled THE BROTHERS), begun in 1817, was cut short by the author's illness and untimely death at the age of 41 in that same year.

EMMA WATSON (the book, not the Harry Potter actress) as completed by novelist Joan Aiken (author of - among many, many other books - THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE and the even better, MIDWINTER NIGHTINGALE) and published in 1996, is a fascinating return to early 19th century England. The Regency era, years known for their strict and convoluted social conventions and rigid class divisions. Not to mention the antiquated and unfair laws of property and entailment which excluded women, keeping them bound to the males in their household either by marriage or family connection no matter how distant.

Austen herself used sly satire and wit to carefully pick apart the foolishness and injustice of her era, but only to the point where most casual readers would not take any real offence. Her books on the surface are mannered romances, but underneath may be found some rather pointed observances of English country life, actually of 'life' in general. Even within the strictures of the sheltered society she inhabited with her not very well-to-do family, Austen was able to draw sharp inferences and connect all the relevant dots.

How property and sex were bound together to the mutual benefit of a male dominated society which disguised any unjust behavior with regal manners and the myth of good 'breeding' was forage for a woman who had a very keen sense of observation and acute deductive reasoning.

The fact that what was true in her day may, on many levels, still be true today is part of the reason we so cherish Austen's writing. Human nature never really changes. It is what it is. Somehow, Jane Austen knew that.

I'm not quite clear which part of the WATSON novel is all Austen or for that matter, which part is all Aiken. Primarily because I've never read the original - I'm looking forward to doing that sometime soon. I'm assuming that Aiken her own sort of weaving method to flesh out the story and make heads and/or tails of the various relationships.

Aiken is no Austen (well, who is?) but she has a knack for embroidering a story. So much so that I stayed up all night reading EMMA WATSON. Near the end I still wondered what it was about the story that held my attention. If you asked me to pinpoint, I don't think I could. That's the way of it with Austen, she grips you and you're not sure exactly why or how.

Here's the basic story (copied from Wikipedia):

Mr. Watson is a widowed clergyman with two sons and four daughters. The youngest daughter, Emma, has been brought up by a wealthy aunt and is consequently better educated and more refined than her sisters. But when her aunt contracts a foolish second marriage, Emma is obliged to return to her father's house. There she is chagrined by the crude and reckless husband-hunting of two of her sisters. She finds the kindness of her eldest and most responsible sister, Elizabeth, more attractive.

Living near the Watsons are the Osbornes, a great titled family. Emma attracts some notice from the boorish and awkward young Lord Osborne, while one of her sisters pursues Lord Osborne's arrogant, social-climbing friend, Tom Musgrave. Various minor characters provide potential matches for Emma's brothers and sisters.

Mr. Watson is seriously ill in the opening chapters, and Austen confided in her sister Cassandra that he was to die in the course of the work. Emma was to decline a marriage proposal from Lord Osborne, and was eventually to marry Osborne's virtuous former tutor, Mr. Howard.

Joan Aiken takes these characters and I'm assuming, all of the 1700 words left by Austen, and fleshes out her own version of what might have happened to the Watsons and the Osbornes and their neighbors.

In Aiken's hands, there are several new characters introduced (an assumption on my part), among them a sea captain who falls instantly in love with Emma and she with him, but who is bound by duty to return to sea until who knows when. Will he and Emma ever get together? Stay tuned.

The hapless curate Mr. Howard (who according to Austen was destined to marry Emma in the end) is not at all the sort of man a spunky Austen heroine should marry. (I'm glad Aiken realized that.) He is embroiled in a relationship (chaste of course) with the older Lady Osborne, a widow with money who is flattered and not above 'using' the attentions of the young man to her own advantage. The handsome Mr. Howard is poor and needy and fooling nobody, but a man's gotta' do what a man's gotta' do to get by in Regency England.

At the age of 25 or so, Emma is considered too old to be seriously contemplating marriage at any rate. I mean, who would have her? The fact is that she will be expected to live with an older sibling, serving the role of the poor relation so beloved of novelists of that era. The rectory is not the family's in perpetuity and soon as the father is no more, the Watson women are expected to immediately depart the premises.

Emma's plight is not helped by the fact that her unkind and rather unfeeling older brother is married to a grasping, foolish, money-hungry woman with no tact and little familial affection. So no help to be had from that quarter. Emma's younger brother, a kindly, intelligent young man is a poor and struggling student. Emma can not count on him.

Emma's two sisters are eager to marry but respectable men (with a living or property) are in short supply. The two eligible men in the neighborhood (supposing Howard is already taken) are painted by Aiken (or Austen) in a rather unattractive light. In fact, one has caused the tragic accidental death of Emma's only real friend.

In the meantime, Emma is apparently expected to act as the sisters' drudge since servants are few and money almost non-existent. Emma, having returned to the bosom of her family after many years absence (see notes above) is willing to do what's necessary to maintain peace in the household - mainly to keep her sickly father from becoming unnecessarily upset and to keep her sisters from behaving badly.

This early part of this story showcases how unmarried women without money or property or helpful connections were often destined to lead unhappy lives at the whim of their relations. (Something Austen was particularly fond of writing about.) How Aiken manages to keep Emma from this fate is intriguing if a bit un-likely. Hint: it has something to do with sewing and later when someone from her past shows up unexpectedly, with horses. And don't forget about that sea captain sailing the seven seas...

The book isn't very long (221 pages) and I wish Aiken had developed parts of the story in a more expansive manner, but still I couldn't put the thing down and read it in one night, eager to find out what would happen next.

In the end, rather abruptly, we get a postscript which details the various marriages and what happened to whom and how. Oh what the heck, I love a good postscript.

Don't forget to check in at Patti Abbott's blog, Pattinase, to see what other forgotten or overlooked books other bloggers are talking about today.

It's Elmore Leonard Day at Patti's, but I went in a different direction.

Friday Night Frights (Nothing Too Horrible)

Just until Halloween: FRIDAY NIGHT FRIGHTS. If you saw my Halloween Recommended Reads which I posted last month, you know I don't read horror, so when I say frights I guess I'm being kind of facetious. But let's make believe. And after all, an eerie and suspenseful murder mystery/thriller can often fill the bill if you are, like me, not technically, horrifically inclined. I think my list last month was a good one, I'm just adding a couple more books (simply because I can't help myself) in the few Fridays left this month. Never enough time, never enough books. You know how it goes.

CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT by Earl Emerson
Earl Emerson is one of those brilliant writers who has been writing for years, turning out terrific book after terrific book and yet, very few on the east coast of North America have heard of him. Very frustrating for all concerned, I'm sure. I've been reading him since I discovered one of his early Mac Fontana books in a used book store many years ago. I fell in love with Emerson's unique style then and have been reading him ever since. (Though I would wish there were more Mac Fontana books in the offing.)

Long story short: Shamus Award winning Emerson is a lieutenant in the Seattle Fire Department, so when the story involves the destructive energy of fire, he gets the terrible details just right. As well as writing suspenseful stand-alone novels, E.E. also writes the Thomas Black detective series (going back many years), set in Portland and featuring one of the more attractive private eyes in the genre.

CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT is the latest in the Black series and possibly one of the more unsettling ones. I can't give too much of the plot away because it will ruin the ending for you. So I'll just say you don't really need to have read the previous books in the series since E.E. catches you up with what's been happening to Black pretty quickly. Hint: he finally married his lawyer friend Kathy. But in this latest shocker, E.E. immediately turns Black's life upside down in a horrible way and leaves him (and you), trying to figure out what the hell happened. Great none stop, suspense-filled book. I read this in one fell swoop.

PLUM SPOOKY by Janet Evanovich
Most of us know that hilarity ensues when Evanovich takes pen to paper (metaphorically speaking). This book is called a 'Between the Numbers' novel because it isn't part of the regular
Stephanie Plum series begun with One For the Money. Although it features Stephanie Plum, there's a different guy involved in Plum Spooky, his name is Diesel and he may or may not have supernatural powers. Hey, anything is possible in Trenton, New Jersey. As the flyleaf says: According to legend, the Jersey Devil prowls the Pine Barrens and soars above the treetops in the dead of night. And no, I don't mean the Devils Hocky Team. Ah, you gotta' read this. Too funny. Plus it has monkeys. Monkeys, under certain conditions, are funny. As usual, I laughed out loud.

For you romance lovers out there (and I am one, yes I admit it!): NIGHT OF THE PHANTOM by the one and only, the truly wonderful Anne Stuart.
Get this from the back cover: As night fell, and fears and phantasms rose to haunt her, Megan Carey was led down to his underground lair - to dine with a phantom she never saw, who remained a dark shape hidden among the shadows.

Wow. Sounds just about perfect Halloween reading. If you can find the book. It's a 1991 Harlequin American Romance edition, but you know, if you look around hard enough, you'll find one. I've collected Anne Stuart books for years. Once upon a time, before the internet, I communicated with several used book stores around the country and bought just about every Anne Stuart book I could get my hands on. She's that good. Not sure how many of her books I have left around the house, but probably I still have most of them tucked in among the various bookshelves. NIGHT OF THE PHANTOM is one of her series of eerie, quirky and, dare I say, odd, romances of which I am very fond and which very few writers can manage successfully. Romantic fun and quite suspenseful.

LONGSHOT by Dick Francis starts out very slowly, it takes a while to get going in this Dick Francis tale which begins: I accepted a commission that had been turned down by four other writers, but I was hungry at the time.

But chug on through the slow opening chapter or so, it's worth the trip.

Impulse will kill you one of these days, writer John Kendall's agent had warned him.

He should have listened.

I've been reading Dick Francis for years. Discovered him one day and promptly went to Barnes and Noble and bought every Francis book they had in stock. (Ah, the good old days when my budget allowed for such splurges.) I loved the man. Love his books. He has written some brilliant stuff over the years. I once wrote an appreciation of him and his writing career for an online mystery website and, to my surprise, Dick Francis wrote me the most wonderful letter.
He was a terrific guy.

Back to LONGSHOT: The hero is John Kendall, writer of travel and survival guides set in jungle or desert. While waiting for his latest book deal to come through, he accepts a job that will place him in the kind of danger that will test his stamina, his ingenuity and his nerve - all while doing reseach in the harmless-seeming English countryside. This book has two of the most harrowing life or death episodes I've EVER read in my life. One involves water and the other involves an arrow. I can say no more. For this alone, I recommend it as excellent reading for this time of year. (Well, for ANY time of year, actually.) When you're in a creepy mood. All I know is I was gasping when I got to the end.

MIDWINTER NIGHTINGALE by Joan Aiken
A young-adult novel pulsing with Victorian melodrama. Perfect to read aloud this Halloween season, if you have someone to read it aloud to. If not, go sit in a quiet corner while the wind howls through the trees and read this for yourself. I loved it. Though I remember reading other Joan Aiken books years ago, this was my first Aiken young adult book. Once I finished I almost immediately read THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE (both books part of the on-going Wolves Chronicles). Both are terrific reads for any age. Only Joan Aiken could conjure up such a mix of magic, mayhem and adventure!

The Tower of London was not a pleasant place in the best of weather, and on a damp, dark, foggy winter evening it was at his worst. The massive masonry was blackened by tendrils of wet moss, peacocks let out doleful cries from the aviary, the lions roared desparingly from the menagerie, and they were answered by the long-drawn angry howls of hungry wolves on the Kent side of the river Thames.

Sounds good to me.