History Literature / TheWolvesOfWilloughbyChase

* AlternateHistory: yep.

->''The action of this book takes place in [[AlternateHistory a period of English history that never happened]] - shortly after the accession to the throne of Good King James III in 1832. At this time, the Channel Tunnel from Dover to Calais having been recently completed, a great many wolves, driven by severe winters, had migrated through the tunnel from Europe and Russia to The British Isles.''

%%* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: the fact of shifting protagonists and a [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters large cast]] means threads are often left open-ended. Before writing ''Nightbirds On Nantucket'' Joan Aiken was inundated with letters from fans with this reaction regarding Dido Twite, who is last seen in ''Black Hearts in Battersea'' clinging to driftwood in the middle of a stormy sea before disappearing and being presumed dead.

* CutShort: See AuthorExistenceFailure

The first written in a series of eccentric gothic adventure stories for children by Creator/JoanAiken. The series is generally referred to by the same name (that or the 'Wolves Chronicles').

* AuthorExistenceFailure: it's debatable how satisfying a conclusion ''The Witch of Clatteringshaws'' makes, and whether it would have been inteneded as the last in the series.

* LiteraryAllusionTitle: It's possible Aiken was invoking Theatre/DidoAndAeneas with the title ''Dido and Pa''.

* CinderellaCircumstances: About once a book in some form. Whether it's because of an OrphanageOfFear or an evil governess, or simply circumstance, expect the characters to be forced into dreadful hard work and poverty at some point in the plot.

The first written in a series of eccentric gothic adventure stories for children by Joan Aiken. The series is generally referred to by the same name (that or the 'Wolves Chronicles').

* LiteraryAllusionTitle: It's possible Aiken was invoking DidoAndAeneas with the title ''Dido and Pa''.

* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: ...Meanwhile, Dido's [[DidoAndAeneas namesake]] doesn't seem at all relevant to her. In-universe she is named after a canal boat.

The books are part parody of, and part homage to, UsefulNotes/{{Victorian|Britain}} literature. They are a little like a prototype ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' and in turn it is likely they are part of the very canon Creator/DanielHandler was parodying and paying homage to with that series. Creator/Philip Pullman is also a fan and the influence of Dido Twite is clear in his own urchin [[ActionGirl action girl]], [[Literature/HisDarkMaterials Lyra Silvertongue]].

The books are part parody of, and part homage to, Victorian literature. They are a little like a prototype Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents and in turn in is likely they are part of the very canon Daniel Handler was parodying and paying homage to with that series. Philip Pullman is also a fan and the influence of Dido Twite is clear in his own urchin [[ActionGirl action girl]], Lyra Silvertongue.

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* ArtisticLicenseHistory

* IstanbulNotConstantinople

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

* AdultsAreUseless: even the more helpful and benevolent adult characters tend to be some way off the quick wits of the child/teenaged heroes.

The books are part parody of, and part homage to, Victorian literature. They are a little like a prototype ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents and in turn in is likely they are part of the very canon Daniel Handler was parodying and paying homage to with that series. Philip Pullman is also a fan and the influence of Dido Twite is clear in his own urchin [[ActionGirl action girl]], Lyra Silvertongue.

* AffectionateParody: Aiken is harking back to both Regency and Victorian (especially Gothic) literature. Of particular note is ''Nightbirds on Nantucket'' which is a thoroughly eccentric take on the story of ''MobyDick'' (Captain Casket is chasing a pink whale).

* The Whispering Mountain (1968) a prequel to the series
* The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (1963)
* Black Hearts in Battersea (1964)
* Nightbirds on Nantucket (1966)
* The Stolen Lake (1981)
* Dangerous Games, published in the UK as Limbo Lodge (1999)
* The Cuckoo Tree (1971)
* Dido and Pa (1986)
* Is Underground (British title: Is) (1992)
* Cold Shoulder Road (1995)
* Midwinter Nightingale (2003)
* The Witch of Clatteringshaws (2005)

** An example of an abusive guardian is Miss. Slighcarp, to Bonnie and Sylvia in 'The Wolves Of Willoughby Chase, and to Dido and Dutiful Penitence in 'Nightbirds On Nantucket'.

* AffectionateParody: Aiken is harking back to both Regency and Victorian (especially gothic) literature. Of particular note is 'Nightbirds On Nantucket' which is a thoroughly eccentric take on the story of MobyDick (Captain Casket is chasing a pink whale).

* ApatheticCitizens: Justified in that the terrrible things taking place in the books - forced child labour; horribly dangerous factories and mines etc - are barely exaggerated dangers of real nineteenth-century life, and realistically only a few people are interested in, or capable of, taking a stand against them.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: it's debatable how satisfying a conclusion 'The Witch Of Clatteringshaws' makes, and whether it would have been inteneded as the last in the series.
* BadassBookworm: Owen in 'The Whispering Mountain'.
* BittersweetEnding: On occasion, for example in 'Is Underground', [[spoiler: Is only succeeds in finding one of the missing boys she set out to alive, and her grandfather dies as well.]]
* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: The London residence of the Duke Of Battersea. After years in the building, he commented it looked like a giant pink blamange and, irritated, died.
* CardCarryingVillain: Most of the series' antagonists, especially Miss Slighcarp of 'The Wolves Of Willoughby Chase' and 'Nightbirds On Nantucket'
* ChekhovMIA: In Black Hearts In Battersea, Simon is expecting to meet Dr. Field, who seems to have disappeared...
* CinderellaCircumstances: About once a book in some form. Whether its because of an OrphanageOfFear or an evil governess, or simply circumstance, expect the characters to be forced into dreadful hard work and poverty at some point in the plot.
* CompetenceZone: Almost all the child or adolescent characters are sure to be quick-witted and ready to see through Hanovarian plots, with adults much less inclined to be much use. Some books even formalise this to some extent - in 'Dido And Pa' the urchins of London form a network called 'the birthday club' which is instrumental in the protagonists' victory. In 'Is Underground' the child mine-workers form a telepathic bond together which saves the day. In both cases there are only a few adult characters open and clever enough to be members.

* DesertedIsland: In 'Black Hearts In Battersea'

* IronicNurseryTune: The chapters of 'Is Underground' are headed with lines from nursery rhymes which emphasise how much of a [[CrapsackWorld crapsack world]] Blastburn is compared to the 'Playland' the children were promised.

* LiteraryAllusionTitle: It's possible Aiken was invoking DidoAndAeneas with the title 'Dido And Pa'.

* MeaningfulName: A lot of Dickens-style naming: Slighcarp, Grimshaw etc. Bonnie is bonny. The surname Twite belongs to two characters (Dido and Is) often described in bird-like terms, and their father is a songwriter. Is's name connects her, in-universe, to a drowned town of the same name which becomes relevant by the climax of 'Is Underground'...
* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: ...Meanwhile, Dido's [[DidoAndAeneas namesake]] doesn't seem at all relevent to her. In-universe she is named after a canal boat.

* NiceGuy: Simon, who acts with decency and courage throughour his story. He was raised on a Poor Farm, and then lived half-wild in the woods, before coming to London in 'Black Hearts In Battersea', but this doesn;t stop him from being a stand-up guy. He is in the tradition of heroes like David Copperfield and even folkloric young seekers-of-fortune. [[spoiler: His sister]] Sophie has had an equally trying upbringing: [[RaisedByWolves raised by otters]], found and cared for by a kindly old gentleman only to be taken away and herself sent to the Poor Farm - but she too is unfailingly decent, kind and courageous.

* RaisedByWolves: In 'Black Hearts In Battersea', Sophie mentions having been raised by ''otters'' for a time.

* SweetPollyOliver: Bonnie from 'Willoughby Chase', and later Dido, occasionally live up to the trope. Dido does not usually actively disguise herself as a boy but since she wears her hair short and prefers trousers to skirts she is often mistaken for a boy, and notes that this sometimes comes in useful.

** In 'Limbo Lodge' (known in the US as 'Dangerous Games'), Dido realises early on that the apparently male [[spoiler: Doctor Talisman]] is in fact female.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: the fact of shifting protagonists and a [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters large cast]] means threads are often left open-ended. Before writing 'Nightbirds On Nantucket' Joan Aiken was inundated with letters from fans with this reaction regarding Dido Twite, who is last seen in 'Black Hearts In Battersea'clinging to driftwood in the middle of a stormy sea before disappearing and being presumed dead.

* AbusiveParents: Dido's parents are neglectful of her to the point of cruelty and her father in particular does not hesitate to imprison and endanger his daughter in the name of Hanovarian conspiracies. Much worse off though is another daughter, Is, who is used by her mother as a drudge and treated with nothing but casual violence and verbal abuse by her mother and father. It's never acknowledged outright by the pair that she is their child, probably since she is the product of an extramarital affair, a fact which might explain their disregard. An example of an abusive guardian is Miss. Slighcarp, to Bonnie and Sylvia in 'The Wolves Of Willoughby Chase, and to Dido and Dutiful Penitence in 'Nightbirds On Nantucket'.

* AffectionateParody: Aiken is harking back to Victorian literature - mostly Dickens and childrens' writers like Frances Hodgson Burnett. Large parts of 'Nightbirds On Nantucket' are essentially a madder version of MobyDick (Captain Casket is chasing a pink whale).

* OrphansOrdeal

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Good King Jim is an all round good egg; kind and down to earth.

* SweetPollyOliver: Bonnie from 'Willoughby Chase', and later Dido occasionally fits this trope - the latter does not really actively disguise herself as a boy but since she wears her hair short and wears trousers instead of skirts, she is often mistaken for a boy, and notes that this sometimes comes in useful. Furthermore, Sophie often disguises herself as [[spoiler: her brother]] Simon once he is [[spoiler: the Duke of Battersea]] and there are conflicting demands on his time. In 'Limbo Lodge' (known in the US as 'Dangerous Games'), Dido realises early on that [[spoiler: Doctor Talisman]] is in fact female.