Morningquest

by Joan Aiken

Once again, the beloved Aiken tells a wonderful story in this contemporary novel, beginning with the first, striking scene: Pandora, her heroine, is at an eccentric luncheon when, suddenly, her mother dies at the table. Adopted by the Morningquest family, Pandora blossoms into maturity just as their lives start to fall apart. As her life moves with theirs to 60’s London, a Northern University, and finally to communist Prague, she uncovers scandals, tragedy, her own mother’s secrets, and finally the way to realise her own dreams.

From award winning author Joan Aiken, romantic suspense novel Morningquest is an intense and kaleidoscopic read, an epic rite of passage with a vast cast of exuberant characters who sweep you into their world.

Genres: Fiction, British Literature, Literature, 20th Century, Romance, Family, Adult

224 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1993

About the author

Joan Aiken was a much loved English writer who received the MBE for services to Children's Literature. She was known as a writer of wild fantasy, Gothic novels and short stories.

She was born in Rye, East Sussex, into a family of writers, including her father, Conrad Aiken (who won a Pulitzer Prize for his poetry), and her sister, Jane Aiken Hodge. She worked for the United Nations Information Office during the second world war, and then as an editor and freelance on Argosy magazine before she started writing full time, mainly children's books and thrillers. For her books she received the Guardian Award (1969) and the Edgar Allan Poe Award (1972).

Her most popular series, the "Wolves Chronicles" which began with The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, was set in an elaborate alternate period of history in a Britain in which James II was never deposed in the Glorious Revolution,and so supporters of the House of Hanover continually plot to overthrow the Stuart Kings. These books also feature cockney urchin heroine Dido Twite and her adventures and travels all over the world.

Another series of children's books about Arabel and her raven Mortimer are illustrated by Quentin Blake, and have been shown on the BBC as Jackanory and drama series. Others including the much loved Necklace of Raindrops and award winning Kingdom Under the Sea are illustrated by Jan Pieńkowski.

Her many novels for adults include several that continue or complement novels by Jane Austen. These include Mansfield Revisited and Jane Fairfax.

Aiken was a lifelong fan of ghost stories. She set her adult supernatural novel The Haunting of Lamb House at Lamb House in Rye (now a National Trust property). This ghost story recounts in fictional form an alleged haunting experienced by two former residents of the house, Henry James and E. F. Benson, both of whom also wrote ghost stories. Aiken's father, Conrad Aiken, also authored a small number of notable ghost stories.

Reviews

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this for the third time (at least) yesterday. The book jacket description is worthless, it's not "romantic suspense", and if you come here from her excellent children's books, you are going to be weirdly disoriented that this is by the same author (less so if you've read her SF short stories though).

Here's what the book is really about: It's about the trauma of communal and individual exile and displacement and the struggle to rebuild and patch together a life, as viewed through the eyes of the next generation. It's about the aftermath of World War Two, two decades on. It's about Jews.

There are a few, maybe only two books I have ever read that gave me an immediate shock of recognition, as if I was reading a story about myself that I had never known but immediately recognized. This is one; Jo Walton's Among Others is another.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fatuous blurb on the cover is totally deceptive: "A family you'll never forget in a novel of love and hope!" Maybe the first chapter hints at such a sappy plot, but that is not how the story unwinds. This is Aiken's take on the broad outlines of I Capture the Castle, with more grit in the characters. Even though it retains an air of the 1960s (when the idea that a young woman could make her way in the world painting portraits for magazines would not have been totally absurd), it was published in the 1990s when an author could speak more plainly about sexuality and mental illness. I rated it 3 stars because I finished the book not feeling happy about the plot--the Morningquests came off, in the end, not as fascinating eccentrics but precious and unbelievable. I liked the main character, Pandora, and the relationships she developed with Grisch and Lulie and Mrs. D, and how she gradually learns about her mother's secret past, as well as how Jewish emigrés worked through their wartime experiences. But for me, the "family you'll never forget" only demonstrated how Pandora's (and her mother's) isolation was in some ways healthier than the dynamics of a large, dysfunctional family. As an only child, it only confirms to me that sibling relationships are too often lifelong replays of childhood trauma.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Pandora Crumbe's mother dies while she and Pandora are visiting the Morningquest family, Pandora is unofficially unadopted by the Morningquests and grows up among their large, eccentric, musical family. Unfortunately, though the characters are interesting, there's such a multitude of them that Aiken doesn't really spend enough time on anyone; there are frequent jumps in time, and a lot of what happens to Pandora and the Morningquests feels sketchy. I enjoyed it, but I thought another hundred or so pages would have made it much more enjoyable.

[Adobe · Rating 1 out of 5]

After her mother drops dead, Pandora Crumbe becomes an unofficial auxiliary of the Morningquest clan, a family of prodigies. But as much as Pandora loves the Morningquests, she and they are not salutary influences on one another.

The big narrative arc of Morningquest depends on Pandora's slow disillusionment with a family that she is eager to idolize, a disillusionment complicated by a maturing, clear-sighted affection for the family, so that the big clanging moments of the novel come when Pandora realizes (again and again) just how badly she has "misread" the dynamics of the Morningquest family.

Or this is Morningquest's intention, at least. It does not manage it, because neither the reader nor Pandora is ever given a chance to fall in love with the Morningquests. The book is narrated by an older Pandora, looking back with all the cynicism of hindsight, and her curdled suspicions alert the reader to the terrible, terrible substance that lurks behind the Morningquest exterior. (After being told by the adorable Morningquest matriarch that Pandora's mother wanted her to attend a particular university, the book itself asks, portentuous with paranoia, "Had that conversation really taken place?" [30]) We never see Pandora establish any childhood bonds with the Morningquests; we only hear about their endearing accomplishments second-hand. All evidence of their humanity happens off-stage.

And thus, when the Morningquests start committing their many sins and suicides, Pandora gasps and the reader yawns. It does not help that Morningquest embraces a mode of excessive melodrama; after a while, it becomes unclear if there exists any taboo or commandment that the Morningquests have not trespassed. (Bestiality, I guess? Necrophilia?) The novel's rising assault of gratuitous sensationalism upon the reader is numbing.

[gardienne_du_feu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seit ihre Mutter sie zum ersten Mal zu einem Besuch auf Boxall Hall mitgenommen hat, ist Pandora Crumbe fasziniert von den Morningquests, der exzentrischen Künstlerfamilie, die dort zu Hause ist. Der Vater ist Dirigent, die Mutter Opernsängerin, die sieben Kinder so unterschiedlich wie charakterstark, außerdem leben im Haushalt noch eine ältere Tante sowie Onkel Grisch, der zwar nicht blutsverwandt ist, aber trotzdem zur Familie gehört. Bei den Morningquests ist so ziemlich alles anders als in Pandoras Kleinfamilie, die nur aus ihr, der künstlerisch angehauchten Mutter und dem sehr bodenständigen, traditionell eingestellten Vater besteht, mit dem Pandora sich nicht sonderlich gut versteht.

Nachdem ihre Mutter ausgerechnet am Esstisch der Morningquests einen tödlichen Herzinfarkt erleidet und sie selbst sich bei einem Unfall auf dem Anwesen verletzt hat, wohnt Pandora vorübergehend bei dem chaotischen Clan und wird durch diese wenigen Wochen fürs Leben geprägt. Auch ihr weiterer Weg ins Erwachsenendasein bleibt eng mit der Familie verknüpft - wovon nicht alle Morningquest-Sprösslinge begeistert sind, vor allem nicht Dolly, die älteste Tochter, die in Pandora mehr und mehr eine Rivalin um die Gunst ihrer Mutter sieht.

Es fällt mir gar nicht so leicht, den Reiz dieses Buches in Worte zu fassen, das mir schon vor sehr langer Zeit mal sehr gut gefallen hatte und mir nun (diesmal im Original) erneut große Freude gemacht hat.

Zum einen mochte ich die Atmosphäre dieses skurrilen Hauses und Haushalts einfach wahnsinnig gerne, in dem eine kunterbunte Künstlerfamilie einen Lebensstil irgendwo zwischen Bohème, Askese und Laisser-faire pflegt, in einem alten Herrenhaus mit weitläufigem Gelände voller Kuriositäten, zum anderen hat mich auch die Dynamik zwischen Pandora und ihrer Wahlfamilie fasziniert, die dank der vielen Figuren sehr facettenreich ist. Dass es mich überhaupt nicht gestört hat, dass die Charaktere leicht überzeichnet wirken und ihr Verhalten manchmal schon ans Satirische grenzt, ist der Autorin sehr hoch anzurechnen. Normalerweise mag ich das eher nicht, aber hier hat es wunderbar ins Gesamtbild gepasst.

Auf jeden Fall ein Re-Read, der sich gelohnt hat. Meine schönen Erinnerungen haben zum Glück hier nicht getrogen.

[Marvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel, by the author of the children's books about Mortimer the Crow that our kids liked, is about an unusual, and unusually talented family, the Morningquests. It's a pleasurable read, but not too demanding.

[Louise Culmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pandora is an only child whose parents do not communicate much, with each other or with her. So when her mother introduces her to the large, glamorous, eccentric. Morningquest family, Pandora is enchanted. Her life becomes entangled with that of this complex family as time goes on, with various consequences for herself and them. I found this book more interesting in the earlier chapters where it is more concerned with Pandora’s relationship with the Morningquests, less interesting when it moves away from them. There are so many Morningquests, and some you never get to know very well. I thought the twins were by far the most interesting characters, but they do not appear enough. There is one very macabre plot line that is never satisfactorily resolved, which was disappointing. It was a book I started off enjoying very much, but was enjoying much less by the end.

[Anna-Louise Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Falling in love with a family

This novel opens doors into puzzles which themselves open into more.
There are clues to why Pandora is the person she is and why she desperately needs to belong to a family not dominated by her uncompromising father.
Her name is, in itself, a clue which leads her and us to many discoveries.
Aiken, as so often, takes the familiar world and renders it magical in the best way possible.
Her writing is reminiscent of that of John Masefield (The Box of Delights).
My only criticism would be that the momentum of the plot sometimes detracts from giving characters fully formed personalities.
An excellent read nonetheless.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Thoroughly enjoyable story. Characters that are interesting and real and a story that unfolds cleverly and believably. I liked Pandora - the watcher, for the reader, of the Morningquest family, whose own story is compelling and unfolds just right.
The descriptions of all the Morningquest children make it very easy to separate out the 7 of them and tel their stories. Ideas, events and references to 20th century history are interwoven in such a way that you just have to keep reading. Read in a day and enjoyed because of its characters and stories.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second time I've read this one and still don't quite know what to make of it. A strange, slightly snobbish, old fashioned book, was surprised to find it was published as recently as 1993.
The eccentric large family in country mansion feels like an old story but some of the twists and turns are much more modern.

[Agnes Chargon · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's one of the great books you can read every ten years and still discovering new facettes in it

[Alayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This took awhile for me to get into it, but once I did, I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery of it. Moving, and quite strange.

[Peter Herrmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Aiken book - and I gather that this is not the 'typical' Aiken book. I found it excellent: will elaborate. But didn't give it full 5-stars because A) at certain places it dragged B) the characters seemed a bit 'rarified' - although perhaps they were modeled after actual various people that Aiken has known. The characters were definitely brought to life by a great writer/ but they didn't seem to be the kind of people I'd likely ever meet. I think what I found disconcerting was the lack of emotion in many of the characters - especially as regards relationships. The plot was well constructed - containing several intersecting sub-plots, and lots of surprises. Good dialogue, very well written descriptive language. There seemed to be a 'moral' to the story: namely, that while we want answers about the past, we can't cling to the past but must live in the present and always more forward. I want to read more of her books - esp. the more 'typical' ones.

[Nell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I took this off the shelf in a hurry, expecting it to be a Regency, but it takes place in, probably, the 1980s. Teenager Pandora Crumbe is the only child of a loving but secretive mother and an uncommunicative father interested only in his work. The mother introduces Pandora to her friend, Lady Mariana Morningquest, and her large family of creative, musically inclined high achievers. When Pandora's mother dies unexpectedly of a heart attack, Pandora stays with the Morninquests and is unofficially adopted. Through her college and young adult years Pandora learns some surprising things about her mother's background and about the members of the Morningquest household.

Most of the novel is in Pandora's voice, but a few chapters have an omniscient point of view, which I found jolting. I didn't relate to much in either setting or characters.

[Carol Waters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thins might be the family we secretly wish to have. People have personality, character or lack thereof, adventure, secrets, pain, occasional joy. I would have liked to have this sort of intensity in my family circle. There is a wire that holds the members of the Morningquest group together, and a force that drives them apart.

[Tessa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I seem to have a love/hate relationship with Ms. Joan and I detested this book. It's characters were godless intellectuals trying to answer lifes great questions without the benefit of any useful tools. I only finished it because that's what I do. Gag!

[Lorna · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's not a popular one, but I enjoyed it: stumbled upon it in the library years ago, and mistook it for a children's book. The characters are not immensely likeable, but there's something rather gripping about the book all the same.

[whalesister · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was surprised that a talented children's author like Joan Aiken could write such poor stuff for adults. Tiresome is the best I can say for it. A waste of time.

[Kaylynn Johnsen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not sure why I even picked this book up at the library and I wish I hadn't. Disturbing family.

[Kathryn Rosenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know how I've not read Joan Aiken before. Pleasing English family drama.

[Tessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this author's books and this was a fine example.