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The Jewel Seed
The Jewel Seed is a powerful source of magic - used for both good and evil. But it's lost. No-one knows where. Only Nonnie holds the key. Can she unravel the mystery before her worst enemies, a group of Siberian witches, catch up with her?
137 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
8 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Joan Aiken
331 books601 followersJoan 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 31, 2018
Never published in the United States, this stand-alone fantasy by the master of "Gothic-style" adventures for young readers is an entertaining and very humorous retelling of the Norse myth of
Iduna and the Magic Apples
. When Nonnie Smith goes to London to stay with her Aunt Daisy, she expects that she will get a job at her older sister Una's hair salon. But Una has disappeared, and a strange ransom note arrives, demanding that Nonnie and her relatives hand over "The Jewel Seed." But what and where is it, and why do the "Winter People" want it?
Why do strange women keep appearing at the house in Rumbury Town, collecting everything from old shirts to ashes? Why are snakes popping out of eggs? Could it be true, as the helpful family ghost Marcus Magus insists, that Napoleon, Jane Austen, Julius Caesar and Mozart are being held prisoner in another dimension? And how is the strange lodger, Colonel Njm of Ljpljnd - in London with his fierce cat Hrjgff, and studying at the Unwellcome Institute - connected to it all?
You'll have to read The Jewel Seed to discover the answer! I was not prepared to meet Joan Aiken at her very best, having concluded that all her (very) good work occurred earlier in her career. But here is all the sly wordplay and quirky humor for which the author is known, the clever weaving together of improbable narrative strands into a satisfying whole. I'm glad to be proven wrong...
Why do strange women keep appearing at the house in Rumbury Town, collecting everything from old shirts to ashes? Why are snakes popping out of eggs? Could it be true, as the helpful family ghost Marcus Magus insists, that Napoleon, Jane Austen, Julius Caesar and Mozart are being held prisoner in another dimension? And how is the strange lodger, Colonel Njm of Ljpljnd - in London with his fierce cat Hrjgff, and studying at the Unwellcome Institute - connected to it all?
You'll have to read The Jewel Seed to discover the answer! I was not prepared to meet Joan Aiken at her very best, having concluded that all her (very) good work occurred earlier in her career. But here is all the sly wordplay and quirky humor for which the author is known, the clever weaving together of improbable narrative strands into a satisfying whole. I'm glad to be proven wrong...
December 20, 2020
What is the Jewel Seed, and why are various people looking for it? These are the questions teen orphan Nonnie Smith keeps asking herself in this rumbustious fantasy novelette penned by the indefatigable Joan Aiken.
In ten action-packed chapters we discover how it is that Nonnie becomes parentless, how a twice-stolen shirt leads her into dire danger, how she comes to stay in northwest London and what befell her there. Along the way we encounter witches, a mysterious lodger and an even stranger cat, and wonder how a grandfather clock, apples, snakes, bootlaces and a three-note musical motif fit into the bigger picture.
And for those who like to rummage beneath the bubbling surface of her cauldron's concoction there are hints as to the ingredients the author has selected to add to her rich stew.
Aiken's plot hinges on Nonnie's eldest sister, Una, who Nonnie discovers has disappeared from her place of work in Rumbury Town, London. With the aid of an alchemist ghost, her cousin John Sculpin and her Aunt Daisy's lodger Colonel Njm she uncovers a dastardly plan to change history by trapping key historical figures before they accomplish their greatest achievements.
In this seemingly slight work Joan Aiken reveals her superlatively inventive imagination, even as she borrows freely from narratives of the past. Among them I note fragments taken from Edmund Spencer's The Fairie Queene (names like Una and Duessa), Norse mythology (the apples of Iðunn), even Philip Pullman's Northern Lights (Aiken slyly includes Siberian witches, one of whom has the name of Azriel). Set at the start of the cold season The Jewel Seed is a retelling of the myth of spring's return which we know from the story of Persephone, and the hope that it won't be the perpetual freeze-up of a Norse Fimbulwinter.
But in amongst a series of crises we have much to smile about: Nonnie's grandmother is called Granny Smith, a sly reference to the apple motif which will become more evident as the story unfolds; a running gag about fish that ranges from the surname of Nonnie's relatives to their cat's preferred dish and on to an abandoned supper of fish and chips; and the unpronounceable names of Colonel Njm and his odd cat Hrjgff. Do I also detect the slyest of hints of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time?
Extra delight comes from the fact that Rumbury Town features in Joan and Lizza Aiken's Mortimer and Arabel stories. Loosely based on London NW3, with geographical bits borrowed from Regent's Canal, Primrose Hill, Camden Town Hampstead and so on, Rumbury Town is
Having somewhere that feels -- however vaguely -- real, to me helps to make a novel feel grounded when so much else may be fantastical. In The Jewel Seed Norse myth furnishes much of the fantastical element, with a certain personage making a guest appearance; Aiken's treatment is very distinctive compared to, say, those by Neil Gaiman, Diana Wynne Jones, or Hilda Lewis, in which that certain individual interacts with characters in a modern setting.
Finally, The Jewel Seed emphasises how central the cauldron of story is to what it means to be human. In the final couple of pages we are even offered the start of a new story which Nonnie falls asleep to:
However, like Scheherazade postponing the conclusion of her tale, Joan Aiken cunningly leaves us guessing how this new beginning may end.
In ten action-packed chapters we discover how it is that Nonnie becomes parentless, how a twice-stolen shirt leads her into dire danger, how she comes to stay in northwest London and what befell her there. Along the way we encounter witches, a mysterious lodger and an even stranger cat, and wonder how a grandfather clock, apples, snakes, bootlaces and a three-note musical motif fit into the bigger picture.
And for those who like to rummage beneath the bubbling surface of her cauldron's concoction there are hints as to the ingredients the author has selected to add to her rich stew.
Aiken's plot hinges on Nonnie's eldest sister, Una, who Nonnie discovers has disappeared from her place of work in Rumbury Town, London. With the aid of an alchemist ghost, her cousin John Sculpin and her Aunt Daisy's lodger Colonel Njm she uncovers a dastardly plan to change history by trapping key historical figures before they accomplish their greatest achievements.
In this seemingly slight work Joan Aiken reveals her superlatively inventive imagination, even as she borrows freely from narratives of the past. Among them I note fragments taken from Edmund Spencer's The Fairie Queene (names like Una and Duessa), Norse mythology (the apples of Iðunn), even Philip Pullman's Northern Lights (Aiken slyly includes Siberian witches, one of whom has the name of Azriel). Set at the start of the cold season The Jewel Seed is a retelling of the myth of spring's return which we know from the story of Persephone, and the hope that it won't be the perpetual freeze-up of a Norse Fimbulwinter.
But in amongst a series of crises we have much to smile about: Nonnie's grandmother is called Granny Smith, a sly reference to the apple motif which will become more evident as the story unfolds; a running gag about fish that ranges from the surname of Nonnie's relatives to their cat's preferred dish and on to an abandoned supper of fish and chips; and the unpronounceable names of Colonel Njm and his odd cat Hrjgff. Do I also detect the slyest of hints of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time?
Extra delight comes from the fact that Rumbury Town features in Joan and Lizza Aiken's Mortimer and Arabel stories. Loosely based on London NW3, with geographical bits borrowed from Regent's Canal, Primrose Hill, Camden Town Hampstead and so on, Rumbury Town is
an ancient, dusty, twisty, cobbly, narrow-lane quarter of north London. It has a canal, a hill, several venerable rail stations, an overgrown cemetery, a stretch of marshland known as Rumbury Waste, rows of little shops selling very odd goods, and some extremely ancient houses.
Having somewhere that feels -- however vaguely -- real, to me helps to make a novel feel grounded when so much else may be fantastical. In The Jewel Seed Norse myth furnishes much of the fantastical element, with a certain personage making a guest appearance; Aiken's treatment is very distinctive compared to, say, those by Neil Gaiman, Diana Wynne Jones, or Hilda Lewis, in which that certain individual interacts with characters in a modern setting.
Finally, The Jewel Seed emphasises how central the cauldron of story is to what it means to be human. In the final couple of pages we are even offered the start of a new story which Nonnie falls asleep to:
Once upon a time there was a poor shepherd. And he found an opening leading into a mountain glacier, and ventured inside, into a great cave, whose walls gleamed with precious stones. And a lady greeted him, who held in her hand a little bunch of blue flowers . . .
However, like Scheherazade postponing the conclusion of her tale, Joan Aiken cunningly leaves us guessing how this new beginning may end.
March 13, 2013
thank you so much, I think THE JEWEL SEED was the best book I've ever read in all my life and it took me on an adventure, fantasy.
July 23, 2017
Ziemlich flüssig als Sonntagnachmittagsunterhaltung in einem durchgelesen. Und schon wieder hat der gerissene Loki es geschafft, sich so früh in eine Nordic-Remix-Geschichte einzuschmuggeln, dass ich ihn zuerst gar nicht erkannt habe. (Das letzte Mal ist mir das, glaube ich bei Neil Gaimans American Gods passiert. Dieser Trickster ist so schnell, den bemerkt man erst, wenn sich das mythologische Thema schon längst etabliert hat. Und dabei war er die ganze Zeit schon anwesend!)
Auf jeden Fall hat mir dieses Buch schon Spaß gemacht - vor allem das Anfangs erwähnte Fahrrad aus Fingernägeln. Und ich finde ja auch, dass - gerade bei Kinderliteratur - offensichtliche Anspielungen meistens Lust darauf machen, die Originale (oder die persönlich am besten funktionierende Nacherzählung) zu entdecken. Gut gemacht also, Joan Aiken! (Und ein bißchen weniger die Übersetzerin Irmela Brender: Von "Einkaufswagen" u. Ä. war ich zwar nur mäßig verwirrt, wenn sich die Erzählung mit den Illustrationen schlägt - aber Ginnungagap z.B. ist ein Eigenname und muss nicht zerlegt und halb eingedeutscht werden. Undsoweiter, murmelmurmel. Aber alles halb so schlimm.)
Auf jeden Fall hat mir dieses Buch schon Spaß gemacht - vor allem das Anfangs erwähnte Fahrrad aus Fingernägeln. Und ich finde ja auch, dass - gerade bei Kinderliteratur - offensichtliche Anspielungen meistens Lust darauf machen, die Originale (oder die persönlich am besten funktionierende Nacherzählung) zu entdecken. Gut gemacht also, Joan Aiken! (Und ein bißchen weniger die Übersetzerin Irmela Brender: Von "Einkaufswagen" u. Ä. war ich zwar nur mäßig verwirrt, wenn sich die Erzählung mit den Illustrationen schlägt - aber Ginnungagap z.B. ist ein Eigenname und muss nicht zerlegt und halb eingedeutscht werden. Undsoweiter, murmelmurmel. Aber alles halb so schlimm.)
December 21, 2020
It’s such a joy to find these new to me Joan Aiken books.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews