All But a Few

by Joan Aiken

All But a Few (Puffin Books)

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Fiction, Childrens

276 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

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

[scarlettraces · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aiken is a spiritual descendant of Nesbit, which is strikingly clear in the princess-themed fairytales, but she adds extra dimensions of melancholy, precise and often extremely funny attention to detail, and a peculiarly practical feyness. My small provincial town library had a copy of All and More*, the collection from which these are taken, when I was a child, and I read it so often that most of these seemed familiar even after a gap of 30 years. The white heat of book love has died down somewhat, as it does when you grow older, but I still found these stories utterly delightful, bemusing, and my favourite thing, full of why the hell not. A travelling salesman who sells the eggs his pigeons lay on demand. The Wind's daughter, who's disinherited and earns her living as a street cleaner. A literal family tree. Not to mention the Armitages. (These are available for modern times in Small Beer Press' The Serial Garden. Recommended.)

I suspect I appreciate "The Mysterious Barricades" more these days though, having been a civil servant for some time. Though I never made it up to the tea and biscuit grade.

*Omnibus of All You Ever Wanted and More Than You Bargained For.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book I go to when I'm feeling miserable or lonely as the stories are a delight and never fail to cheer me up. They're generally funny, occasionally sad, always charming and are presented as fairy tales but modern - well modern-ish. There is a definite upper-middle class post-war feel to many of them which is odd considering it was first published in 1974.
In these stories wizards might commandeer your house, the local Fairy Countess might invite you to a music recital, a unicorn may appear on your lawn (on a Tuesday, mind you, not a Monday when it would have been alright) or an absent minded aunt may send you magical birthday cards with good intentions but disastrous consequences. All these things are regarded as quite normal by everyone involved.
As its a book of short stories you can dip into it , put it down, pick it up again and it doesn't matter where you open it

[Lady Jane]

I loved Joan Aiken as an adolescent. And I love Joan Aiken as an adult. It was a joy to reread these stories and realize that they retain their magic and quirky humour after all these years. I laughed so hard I wondered if my neighbor could hear through the walls of my little row house. I enjoyed the Armitage family with their world of magic blending with a very British normality. I also enjoyed the sense that I was (once again) discovering this obscure book of stories that is virtually unknown except to me... that somehow Joan Aiken was writing only for me.

[Jemimah Brewster · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can read this review on my blog at: http://oddfeather.co/2017/05/28/revie...

I loved this book when I first read it as a nine year old: it’s one of the first novels I ever read. I found it lost in a box of Archie comics at my local library and devoured it curled up in a cubby house. This book cemented my love of short stories, magic realism, and myths and legends.

[Jack Bates · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've owned this ex-library book for decades. :)

Plenty of Armitage stories in here for fans of Mark and Harriet and the strange things that happen to them on Mondays, and also other days.