NIGHTBIRDS ON NANTUCKET [Paperback]

Joan Aiken (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 1969

Having had enough of life on board the ship that saved her from a watery grave, Dido Twite wants nothing more than to sail home to England. Instead, Captain Casket's ship lands in Nantucket, where Dido and the captain's daughter, Dutiful Penitence, are left in the care of Dutiful's sinister Aunt Tribulation. In Tribulation's farmhouse, life is unbearable. When mysterious men lurk about in the evening fog, the resourceful Dido rallies against their shenanigans with help from Dutiful, a cabinboy named Nate, and a pink whale.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Joan Aiken, daughter of the American writer Conrad Aiken, was born in Rye, Sussex, England, and has written more than sixty books for children, including The Wolves of Willoughby Chase.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Yearling (February 15, 1969)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044046370X
• ISBN-13: 978-0440463702
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,053,115 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very funny suspense for kids - parody for adults, June 10, 1999

By 

rampageous_cuss (Under Billy Penn's Hat) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Nightbirds on Nantucket (Wolves Chronicles) (Paperback)

Joan Aiken writes a brilliant story on two levels which continues the saga of Dido Twite, lost at sea in the preceding novel (Black Hearts in Battersea.) She is rescued by a whaling ship whose skipper, the lugubrious Quaker Captain Coffin, is obsessed by his hunt for the great PINK whale while having some difficulty relating to his timid daughter, who has locked herself in his cupboard for the duration of the voyage. Dido wins her trust and is 'rewarded' by her father who imposes on her to be a sort of au pair. The girls are dropped off in Nantucket where they are to be under the 'care' of Coffin's sister, auntie Tribulation. Tribulation does indeed appear as Nantucket turns out to harbour anti - British-monarchy terrorists and the wicked Miss Slighcarp, villainess of 'The Wolves of Willoughby Chase'. The fast-paced, intricately- plotted story comes to a very clever ending.

As usual Joan Aiken is brilliantly spoofing 19th century literature. Adults will find the parody hilarious while children thrill to the melodrama.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Rich and Exciting Read, November 14, 2003

By 

R. M. Fisher "Raye" (New Zealand = Middle Earth!) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Nightbirds on Nantucket (Wolves Chronicles) (Paperback)

When we last saw Dido Twite at the end of "Black Hearts in Battersea" she was going down with the Dark Dew ship, swept away from her friends Simon and Justin in the middle of the ocean. Whilst the two boys were forced to go on without her (eventually preventing an assasination attempt on the Duke of Battersea), Dido's fate remained a mystery, that Joan Aiken now resolves for expectant readers in the third book in her "Wolves Saga".

After a ten month long sleep, Dido awakes on board a whaler in the middle of the Artic sea, on a boat completely covered in icicles and frost. There she meets young Nate, a ship's hand, who informs her of her surroundings, of how far she is from home. Also on board is the fox-like and slimy Mr Slighcarp and the moony Captain Casket, who is determined to chase and catch the magnificent pink whale. He informs Dido that his young daughter Dutiful Penitence Casket is also on board, but who has locked herself away in a cupboard in mortal terror of the sea. He requests that Dido attempt to coax her out, and then accompany her to her Aunt Tribulation on the island of Nantucket before she tries to head back to England. Dido, taking it into her responsiblity to teach Penitence not to be so timid, agrees despite her homesickness.

But there are other mysteries about, such as the fierce stowaway that Dido finds hiding in the hold, and the suspicious actions of Mr Slighcarp that aren't solved by the time Penitence and Dido reach the domineering and threatening Aunt Tribulation. The two girls eventually realise there's a Hanoverian plot in the making that involves a giant gun being fired from Nantucket to London, which will not only succeed in destroying the palace, but with blowing Nantucket backwards into New York harbour! With pink whales, German inventors, hidden woods and a familiar villainess from "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase", Joan Aiken once more dishes up excitement and intrigue set in her continually-growing parallel world, where history mingles with fiction, and characters engage in some rather incredible situations!

To a point, "Nightbirds in Nantucket" was not quite up to the standards of "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase" and "Black Hearts in Battersea", as the duo of the strong-willed Dido and the meek little Penitence reminded me a little too much of Bonnie and Sylvia of "Wolves", (especially in "Aunt Tribulation"'s treatment of them), and the Hanoverian plot of conquering King James III was basically the same threat that was faced in "Black Hearts". However, Joan Aiken's imagination is amazing, whether she be creating the icy whaling ship sailing through the Artic Sea, or the warm sunny moorlands of Nantucket with its white-washed cottages. Her melodramatic plot twists and devices are always humourous and adventuresome (despite their unlikeliness), and the story ends on a note of further adventure for the irrepressable Dido Twite.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome characters yet again...!, July 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Nightbirds on Nantucket (Wolves Chronicles) (Paperback)

Yet another incredible book in this series by Joan Aiken! This one places the focus on Dido Twite, and one of the things that I thought was most enjoyable about this book was seeing Dido grow into the strong, tough-girl from the wretched "brat" in Black Hearts in Battersea. I also thought that there was a lot more humour in this book than the previous three. I guess this book is like the "growth" book. Dido grows into the confident person we see in the later books, and Dutiful Penitence, under Dido's care, also becomes much stronger during the course of this adventure. I guess what I'm saying is that this is the book that makes Dido the mainstay for the rest of the series by showing how she grew stronger and how she helped others grow stronger.

I think it's a funny spoof of the whaling society of Nantucket in the 19th century, and of the Puritanical sort of Quaker types who brought up "Pen". This book introduces several sympathetic, believable, "bang-up" characters, such as Nate, Doc Mayhew, Cap'n Casket and Professor Breadno, and of course, Mr. Jenkins. The plot is wildly fantastical, (and physically impossible, in some parts) but the wonderful storytelling more than makes up for that, and rather sets the scene for the even more eerie and improbable sequels, The Stolen Lake and The Cuckoo Tree. Loads of fun, a must read for kids, and I personally think that adults should read it just to get in touch with the inner child within, etc. etc. READ THIS BOOK!