Past Eight O'Clock: Goodnight Stories

by Joan Aiken, Jan Pieńkowski (Illustrator)

A collection of eight stories about the mysterious world of sleeping, dreams and bedtime.

Genres: Short Stories, Childrens

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

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

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Interesting concept - taking a nursery rhyme and teasing a short story out of it. I enjoy the pairing of Pienkowski and Aiken, but I didn't find this as good as another I've read (A Necklace of Raindrops and Other Stories).

[duniamimpigie Anggi]

Huwaaaaah... Joan Aiken memang luar biasa! Memang gak se-magical kumcer "Raindrops" (atau karena Raindrops ini perkenalan pertama si Gie sama Bu Aiken dan Pak Pienkowski, makanya terasa gak ada tandingan?), tapi tetap terasa khas beliau di beberapa cerpennya: ajaib tapi terkesan seolah bisa terjadi di kenyataan.
Favorit si Gie yang cerita tentang keluarga gagak, "Hushabye Baby on the Tree Top", ending-nya menghangatkan hati banget. Sukaaaa~
Yang cerita kedua "Your Cradle is Green" itu agak sedih, bittersweet.
Ah! Yang "Bye, Baby Bunting" itu juga menarik! Terutama bagian memotong matahari dan mencuci muka bulan! Hehe!

Oh! Oh!
Ini buku pertama yang si Gie selesaikan di tahun 2021!!

[Liaken]

Fun stories. Not as wacky as the rest of her collections. Nice incorporation of lullabies in the text.

[Taylor Ren’e Lara]

This collection of short stories based on familiar lullabys were like modern folktales. The strange and abstract concepts like you are used to finding in ancient fairytales or folktales were sometimes charming, sometimes alarming. All in all I enjoyed it and I believe it would make a good bedtime chapter book for families to read aloud, maybe as a preparation for reading something darker like the original Grimms.

[Dianna]

Magickally woven tales perfect for just before bed time reading!