Description
Book SynopsisA volume of Joan Aiken's own favourite stories, collected here for the first time.
Trade ReviewWitty and endlessly inventive
Joan Aiken's invention seemed inexhaustible, her high spirits a blessing, her sheer storytelling zest a phenomenon. She was a literary treasure, and her books will continue to delight for many years to come
It is the mixture of irrepressible gaiety and invention with the tragic that makes Aiken one of the great children's authors . . . impossible to calculate the number of people who have enjoyed her books - who have had some magic injected into the mundane * Sunday Telegraph *
She was a consummate story-teller, one that each generation discovers anew
The voice that tells these stories is braver than us, unflappable; someone who knows the ways of the world and loves it anyway. She is one of the writers I admire most in the world
Some books are like coming home: warm and comfortable. Aiken manages to balance this assurance with the unexpected and wildly imaginative - like coming home to an ocean in your hallway, a small boat waiting to carry you out through the kitchen into a wide and sparkling sea.
The Gift Giving is the perfect selection of stories to introduce readers to this precious and incredible author -- Kiran Millwood Hargrave
One of the most important and interesting children's fiction writers of the last fifty years -- Neil Gaiman
