The Smile of the Stranger [Paperback]

Joan Aiken (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446941441
• ISBN-13: 978-0446941440
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,417,660 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joan Aiken (1924-2004) was the daughter of Pulitzer prize winning poet Conrad Aiken and started writing herself from the age of five. During her lifetime she published over one hundred books for children and adults, including the acclaimed Wolves of Willoughby Chase series. In the UK she received an MBE from the Queen for her services to Children's Literature.

This year sees the publication of a brand NEW story collection - The Monkey's Wedding - with previously unpublished material that shows Aiken on top form. This collection of funny, spooky, unexpected but classic Aiken stories has received wonderful reviews and will delight her readers. See below for details.

Her work continues to be adapted for film and television; she is established as a consummate storyteller,and recognized as one of the best loved authors of the twentieth century.

"The Wonderful World of Joan Aiken" is at www.joanaiken.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another great work from Aiken, March 21, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Smile of the Stranger (Hardcover)

This novel starts off as a romantic fiction, but becomes more of a typical Joan Aiken mystery and adventure as you read on through it. You see the story from Juliana's point, little realising the plots and schemes being devised by the other characters. The book starts slowly, I felt, but like many of Aiken's works, builds up to a nail-biting climax. Not quite as good as its (sort of) sequel, The Lightning Tree (aka The Weeping Ash), but nonetheless, a great read if you like Aiken's other books.

5.0 out of 5 stars Joan Aikens is a favorite!, December 17, 2009

By 

Rafinia "readaholic" (Alachua, Florida) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Smile of the Stranger (Hardcover)

I recently lost my copy of this book, "The Smile of the Stranger," so I ordered another. I love nearly all of Joan Aiken's books!

3.0 out of 5 stars It had a great beginning, December 9, 2008

By 

Flower Girl (MN, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Smile of the Stranger (Paperback)

Unfortunately, the very promising beginning did not finish satisfactorily for me, I guess it probably had a lot to do with the characters' developments, especially Juliana's. I felt she was portrayed too naive, and too weak for my taste; With a young lady, even though she was only 18, but with her worldly experience one would expect her to possess some street smarts; and by taking care of her father all those years, she should have shown some fighting spirits; but they were so inconsistently behaved and really made me wonder if she was unintelligent or just a bad writing. The inconsistency of characters became very troublesome for me towards the end when Juliana's mother threatened Capt. Davenport to rape her daughter, and capt.'s refusal, and later Herr Welcker's reappearance, and Reagent's appearance at the party, ..... there were so many things going on towards the end and were not fully explained really left me feeling baffled. But I did enjoy the beginning and the balloon ride a lot. And I enjoyed quite few of Ms. Aiken's other works.