The carpets are spread out under a great metal slab. “ It was not so much that the sights were frightening, though some were that but they were so strange, so totally unfamiliar compared with anything that he had ever seen before the shapes and movements of the machines were so black, quick, ugly, or sudden the noises were so atrociously loud, the heat was so blistering, the smells so sickly, acid or stifling.” The most awful part is the pressing machine. Before Lucas can discover why this girl has been sent to Midnight Court or exactly how she is connected to the family, he is taken down to the mill. It is Luc’s birthday tomorrow and as he looks forlornly out the window he sees a carriage arrive containing a young French girl. As the story opens Lucas has been living in this house for two years with only his tutor, Mr Oakapple, for company.
Sir Randolph fraudulently won the estate of Midnight Court following a wager many years earlier. Lucas has lost both his parents and has been sent to live with his guardian Sir Randolph who is a drunken gambler. The Secret Gardenis one possible way to introduce this way of writing. The only difficulty for a young reader might be the phonetic spelling Aiken uses for the various English and French accents but I am sure with a little perseverance a young reader will manage these. If you are an adult reader who loved Oliver Twist and other novels by Charles Dickens then you will want your child to read Midnight is a Place. It was first published in 1974 but Joan Aiken is such a skilled writer this book must be considered a classic. We have disposed of this copy but re-reading it over the last two days has convinced me to purchase a new copy. This is another old book from our library collection. Wisdom like this abounds in Midnight is a Place by Joan Aiken. So you make them comfortable and you tell them not to unquiet themselves.” ‘For some people will always be worrying – if only about whether the soup is going to be thick enough or the milk will go sour. … Either you make their lives so much better that they don’t have to worry – or you teach them that worrying doesn’t help, but is only a waste of time.’ … ‘I think both ways together would be best,’ said Anna-Marie.
“ So how you can you teach people not to worry?’ ‘You ask some large size questions’.
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