Wolves Chronicles 01 – The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

Joan Aiken's The Wolves of Willoughby Chase is a snowy adventure for 9 year olds about two cousins and the governess who takes over their home.

What happens

Bonnie Green lives in a huge rose-brick house in the middle of a wood. It's winter and the wolves are starving. Even the men clearing snow off the road stick together in groups.

Bonnie is waiting for her cousin Sylvia to arrive from London. Instead she gets Miss Slighcarp, her new governess, a whole day early. Within half an hour Miss Slighcarp has hit Bonnie's maid with a hairbrush. Bonnie answers with a jug of water in the face (and the governess's grey hair turns out to be a wig).

Sylvia's journey is probably the best bit. She's an orphan who has shared one attic room with her Aunt Jane, and her whole new wardrobe has been cut out of an old white curtain. On the train north a wolf smashes through the window, and the odd gentleman in her compartment deals with it. He also has a gun, a box of cakes and a lot of interest in how rich her uncle is.

Once Sylvia arrives, Bonnie's mother and father set off on a long sea voyage to help Lady Green get well. Miss Slighcarp is left in charge of everything. Before long the staff are gone and the girls are packed off to a grim school for orphans. A boy who looks after geese turns out to be a very handy friend.

The language is grand and old-fashioned. People say things like "unmannerly irruption" and demand to know where your curtsy is. Underneath it all is a really warm story about two very different girls. Bonnie is fiery and flies at anyone who's unfair. Sylvia is gentle and polite and brave in a quieter way. When Sylvia cries for her aunt on her first night, Bonnie just climbs into bed with her.

It's not all cosy, mind. The wolves are a real danger, and one is stabbed through a cloak with a piece of broken glass. A reader who hates animals getting hurt might wince at that page. For most, it's the sort of shiver that keeps them turning pages.

What to read next

If your reader wants more of Joan Aiken's wolf-filled England, try Is Underground. Is Twite and her sister Penny keep a whole pack out of their barn with a burning bundle of twigs and an old blunderbuss.