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A Touch of Chill: Tales for Sleepless Nights
Blending the homely with the exotic, this collection of fifteen macabre tales includes an eerie story about a six-year-old girl whose scalp is inhabited by Druids
183 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1979
3 people are currently reading
174 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 - 22 of 22 reviews
August 3, 2022
This 1970s-era collection of ironic, Twilight Zone-tinged short stories, includes some of the creepier tales Aiken wrote. But it's a creepiness aimed at teen readers, so tame by today's standards. I especially liked the story that included Marxist mice, plus the one about the classic Good Little Girl who insists
There's no joy whatsoever in Aiken's Cornwall cottages
Three and a half stars rounded down to three. I love Aiken's writing
There's no joy whatsoever in Aiken's Cornwall cottages
Three and a half stars rounded down to three. I love Aiken's writing
October 26, 2017
Kinda weird. I don't 'get' most of the stories; it seems as if they're mysteries missing the last page. And it's marketed to a juvenile audience, but, I'm sorry, if I'm having trouble, how would kids get more out of it? And most of the characters are adults.
The writing is atmospheric, though; it's a spooky sort of a book and worth a try.
The writing is atmospheric, though; it's a spooky sort of a book and worth a try.
February 7, 2017
I almost stopped reading this collection, but I'm glad I didn't. The first story in "A Touch of Chill" didn't impress me, so I decided to read the last two in the book. They didn't impress me much either. At that point, I put the book aside. Later, I discovered "Time to Laugh", one of the stories from this collection, in an anthology I was reading. Lo and behold, I quite liked that creepy, atmospheric tale. So, I decided to give the collection another shot. As it turned out, although I found about half the stories not especially interesting, there were a number that were quite chilling, and a few real gems. I've given the collection three stars overall, but if I were to rate each story individually, the range would be from two to five. The two tales that deserve a very special mention are "Listening" and "A Game of Black and White". They are both beautifully written and extremely eerie. The former is so wonderfully strange and quite profound. In fact, it's still got me wondering.
February 21, 2018
My previous acquaintance with the work of this author was with her children's novels set in an alternate version of British history. This collection of short stories published in 1979 is described as 'stories of horror, suspense and fantasy' but rather than outright horror, the effect is more of creepiness. Quite a few are inconclusive and fizzle out at the end with no definitive notion of what happened. The one which makes the closest approach to horror is the first in the collection, 'The Lodgers', about some decidedly nasty characters who move in when a mother is overworked and harried by both her boss at work and the simultaneous infectious illnesses of her two children. Rather ahead of its time in its foregrounding of a single parent.
Some stories are predictable such as 'The Sewanne Glide', where the interest is in the execution and characterisation, or 'Jugged Hare' where a woman with a violent husband tempts fate by having an affair. Some are downright odd, for example, 'Listening', seemingly a disconnected series of events where the teacher protagonist has to sit in on another teacher's lesson to assess her after witnessing an animal's upsetting death enroute - then sees her crumble under a devastating personal tragedy, and then sees himself portrayed rather oddly in a museum. Unsettling, but you are left wondering what it was all about. 'A Game of Black and White' about a boy's misadventures in a world that suddenly turns into a nightmare under the influence of a total solar eclipse is similar in effect.
Others are in the style of fairy tales - 'The Rented Swan' for example, or are more or less traditional ghost stories - 'The Companion'. 'He' is a cautionary folktale about the personal penalties for taking revenge. In 'The Story about Caruso' a woman is driven to take extreme action by the stress of caring for an impossible relative. 'Mrs Considine' is an inconsequential tale of the friendship between an old lady and a young girl who has prophetic dreams, almost a 'tell it by numbers' - the denoument is spelled out in advance although we don't get to actually see it, but it left a feeling of "So what?"
Two stories, 'Power Cut' and 'A Train Full of War-Lords', feature blind protagonists at the mercy of others in their environment, even members of their own families who don't intend their malicious effects - luckily averted quite by chance in the second of the two stories. 'Who Goes Down this Dark Road' and 'The Helper' are downright weird - in the first, we don't really know the reason for the tragedy that has ruined the protagonist's life or its connection with a malicious young woman, daughter of a French Professor, or why he should still intend to help them by registering the Professor's invention of a mechanical companion at the UK Patent Office where he works, and it is unclear whether we are dealing with a haunting or the psychological effects of guilt by the end. The second is a short tale based on a very peculiar "What if?" question posed and answered.
Probably the most effective tale in the collection is 'Time to Laugh', the story of what happens to a boy with criminal tendencies who decides to explore the local - not exactly haunted - house with creepy consequences. Overall a 3-star rating.
Some stories are predictable such as 'The Sewanne Glide', where the interest is in the execution and characterisation, or 'Jugged Hare' where a woman with a violent husband tempts fate by having an affair. Some are downright odd, for example, 'Listening', seemingly a disconnected series of events where the teacher protagonist has to sit in on another teacher's lesson to assess her after witnessing an animal's upsetting death enroute - then sees her crumble under a devastating personal tragedy, and then sees himself portrayed rather oddly in a museum. Unsettling, but you are left wondering what it was all about. 'A Game of Black and White' about a boy's misadventures in a world that suddenly turns into a nightmare under the influence of a total solar eclipse is similar in effect.
Others are in the style of fairy tales - 'The Rented Swan' for example, or are more or less traditional ghost stories - 'The Companion'. 'He' is a cautionary folktale about the personal penalties for taking revenge. In 'The Story about Caruso' a woman is driven to take extreme action by the stress of caring for an impossible relative. 'Mrs Considine' is an inconsequential tale of the friendship between an old lady and a young girl who has prophetic dreams, almost a 'tell it by numbers' - the denoument is spelled out in advance although we don't get to actually see it, but it left a feeling of "So what?"
Two stories, 'Power Cut' and 'A Train Full of War-Lords', feature blind protagonists at the mercy of others in their environment, even members of their own families who don't intend their malicious effects - luckily averted quite by chance in the second of the two stories. 'Who Goes Down this Dark Road' and 'The Helper' are downright weird - in the first, we don't really know the reason for the tragedy that has ruined the protagonist's life or its connection with a malicious young woman, daughter of a French Professor, or why he should still intend to help them by registering the Professor's invention of a mechanical companion at the UK Patent Office where he works, and it is unclear whether we are dealing with a haunting or the psychological effects of guilt by the end. The second is a short tale based on a very peculiar "What if?" question posed and answered.
Probably the most effective tale in the collection is 'Time to Laugh', the story of what happens to a boy with criminal tendencies who decides to explore the local - not exactly haunted - house with creepy consequences. Overall a 3-star rating.
August 1, 2020
I had a copy of this when I was 10 or 11 and it got lost somewhere. Probably packed away and given to Goodwill or something by my well-meaning mom, who figured it was a children's book and I had grown too old for such things (all the lost books!! my heart weeps!).
In fact, I'd forgotten all about it until I watched Mirror Mask, a totally trippy film I'm not sure if I liked or hated. In part of the movie, the main character glances into a mirror or through a window and sees a woman who looks like her mother, who had fallen ill in the real world, asleep. I suddenly remembered a story from this book (A Game of Black and White), although I wouldn't recall the name of either the book or the story until the Great Goodreads Brain would lead me to it based on some truly random clues (all I remembered is a boy got transported to an alternate universe during an eclipse and had to save his mom...also something about a dentist). There was a lot I'd forgotten too. About the story and about the rest of the book.
Overall... Some creepy stuff in here, but of the variety that's less scary and more weird. Some is straight up unsettling...especially to someone as young as I was when I read it. Maybe that's what really happened to the book. Maybe I got rid of it myself in a fit of out of sight out of mind. I get that. I do. I was still a year or two away from my Christopher Pike phase and wouldn't discover the likes of Ann Rice or Stephen King for several more years after that. I may not yet have even been exposed to Mary Downing Hahn's Wait Till Helen Comes (which I got at my 5th Grade Spring Book Fair and was the first truly scary book I remember reading in detail), so I can see how some of the stories in here would scare the crap out of me. On the re-read, though, there wasn't anything in there I wish I could unsee/unread. Just some weird little short stories. Some better than others.
In fact, I'd forgotten all about it until I watched Mirror Mask, a totally trippy film I'm not sure if I liked or hated. In part of the movie, the main character glances into a mirror or through a window and sees a woman who looks like her mother, who had fallen ill in the real world, asleep. I suddenly remembered a story from this book (A Game of Black and White), although I wouldn't recall the name of either the book or the story until the Great Goodreads Brain would lead me to it based on some truly random clues (all I remembered is a boy got transported to an alternate universe during an eclipse and had to save his mom...also something about a dentist). There was a lot I'd forgotten too. About the story and about the rest of the book.
Overall... Some creepy stuff in here, but of the variety that's less scary and more weird. Some is straight up unsettling...especially to someone as young as I was when I read it. Maybe that's what really happened to the book. Maybe I got rid of it myself in a fit of out of sight out of mind. I get that. I do. I was still a year or two away from my Christopher Pike phase and wouldn't discover the likes of Ann Rice or Stephen King for several more years after that. I may not yet have even been exposed to Mary Downing Hahn's Wait Till Helen Comes (which I got at my 5th Grade Spring Book Fair and was the first truly scary book I remember reading in detail), so I can see how some of the stories in here would scare the crap out of me. On the re-read, though, there wasn't anything in there I wish I could unsee/unread. Just some weird little short stories. Some better than others.
August 10, 2016
Joan Aiken is one of my favourite authors, best known among children as the writer of the alternative-history series The Wolves Chronicles. She is also a writer for adults, and the same sense of imagination, wit and mystery found in her earlier books are found in this collected anthology of creepy and twisted short stories. Although the title claims that these are stories of "horror, suspense and fantasy," this is a little misleading. It's not that these stories aren't any of these things, it's just that Aiken does not write typical short stories in this genre — these tales are seldom wrapped up in a neat little bow, and often Aiken is more interested in crafting an unsettling atmosphere than answering questions that her stories raise. As such, many of the stories do not seem particularly creepy , and those who are used to their horror stories being filled ... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
February 15, 2009
Charming and, well, chilling, this book contains my favorite horror story of all time, 'He.' A must-read for horror fans of any age.
December 3, 2017
These spooky little tales leave you guessing.
November 19, 2018
A Touch of Chill
Joan Aiken is a an author that I’ve always associated with some classic children’s stories. So when I found a collection of her stories in my local library I thought it would be an good introduction to her work aimed at adults.
As a commuter I do look out for short story collections to read on my journey home during the dark season and this was one that didn’t disappoint. There was a slightly Aickman quality to some of the stories – that slightly enigmatic quality that makes you go back and re-read it to find out if you’ve missed something.
The stand-out ones were for me:
Mrs Considine in which a young girl, Julia, has prophetic dreams which seem to tell the future. When introduced to her new teacher, Mrs Considine, she isn’t frightened of her dog as she had seen him in a dream the previous night and knew that she could trust him. But the dreams become more disturbing when she dreams of Mrs Considine’s gardener, Mr Wickenden, being carried heavenwards by angels. The next day he has died and then she dreams of her teacher entering dark gates and the next day she runs off down to the house. She misses the fateful telephone call…
In The Companion, Mrs Clyrard takes up residence at No 3 Vascoe’s Cottages as the new tenant. She is a formidable lady and has a frequent visitor, Miss Morgan, who is the housekeeper to Mrs Clyrard’s landlady, Mrs Soames. Prior to this she was housekeeper to Mrs Soames’ mother and after her death took up her post with Mrs Soames. They both visit Mrs CAlyrard to complain about the other. Eventually Miss Morgan is dismissed and goes to live with her married sister. And then Mrs Clyrard has the uncomfortable feeling that she is no longer alone in the house and resolves to deal with it……
The Rented Swan is the tale of how a renowned writer take up residence to discover that his landlady is a swan….Aiken make this completely believable and the final paragraph is chilling…
In Time to Laugh, Matt, a bored teenager, decides to explore the local apparently abandoned house ‘The Croft’. He’s found an unobtrusive way in and soon enters through an open window. He explores the cobwebbed rooms until he hears mocking laughter and follows it..….but the last laugh will be on him…
Power Cut was a very visceral story in which an answering machine delivers a final message despite there being no power in the house. The owners, Celia and Thomas, are staying there in an attempt to mend their marriage but their housekeeper, Mrs Tredennis, who was supposed to switch on everything is nowhere to be found. Until she knocks on the door looking for her cat and Thomas will forever wish that he hadn’t found it…especially when he hears it mewing from inside the cottage.
I enjoyed the author’s confidence in evoking the uncanny in everyday surroundings and there were some excellent twists in the tale in the endings of several of the stories.
Joan Aiken is a an author that I’ve always associated with some classic children’s stories. So when I found a collection of her stories in my local library I thought it would be an good introduction to her work aimed at adults.
As a commuter I do look out for short story collections to read on my journey home during the dark season and this was one that didn’t disappoint. There was a slightly Aickman quality to some of the stories – that slightly enigmatic quality that makes you go back and re-read it to find out if you’ve missed something.
The stand-out ones were for me:
Mrs Considine in which a young girl, Julia, has prophetic dreams which seem to tell the future. When introduced to her new teacher, Mrs Considine, she isn’t frightened of her dog as she had seen him in a dream the previous night and knew that she could trust him. But the dreams become more disturbing when she dreams of Mrs Considine’s gardener, Mr Wickenden, being carried heavenwards by angels. The next day he has died and then she dreams of her teacher entering dark gates and the next day she runs off down to the house. She misses the fateful telephone call…
In The Companion, Mrs Clyrard takes up residence at No 3 Vascoe’s Cottages as the new tenant. She is a formidable lady and has a frequent visitor, Miss Morgan, who is the housekeeper to Mrs Clyrard’s landlady, Mrs Soames. Prior to this she was housekeeper to Mrs Soames’ mother and after her death took up her post with Mrs Soames. They both visit Mrs CAlyrard to complain about the other. Eventually Miss Morgan is dismissed and goes to live with her married sister. And then Mrs Clyrard has the uncomfortable feeling that she is no longer alone in the house and resolves to deal with it……
The Rented Swan is the tale of how a renowned writer take up residence to discover that his landlady is a swan….Aiken make this completely believable and the final paragraph is chilling…
In Time to Laugh, Matt, a bored teenager, decides to explore the local apparently abandoned house ‘The Croft’. He’s found an unobtrusive way in and soon enters through an open window. He explores the cobwebbed rooms until he hears mocking laughter and follows it..….but the last laugh will be on him…
Power Cut was a very visceral story in which an answering machine delivers a final message despite there being no power in the house. The owners, Celia and Thomas, are staying there in an attempt to mend their marriage but their housekeeper, Mrs Tredennis, who was supposed to switch on everything is nowhere to be found. Until she knocks on the door looking for her cat and Thomas will forever wish that he hadn’t found it…especially when he hears it mewing from inside the cottage.
I enjoyed the author’s confidence in evoking the uncanny in everyday surroundings and there were some excellent twists in the tale in the endings of several of the stories.
January 3, 2024
I first encountered this short story collection when I was nine or ten; it blew my mind, and I think I was lucky to run into it before I read any other Aiken, because it represents so many of her strengths—crystal-clear evocative prose, dry humor, and a fondness for both morbid black comedy and real dread—while also having plenty of surface appeal for a pre-teen genre fiend in terms of young characters and magic shenanigans. When I finally found another volume of her Gothics, A Bundle of Nerves, I was kind of disappointed that so much of it focused on various British grownups just committing ordinary murders(*).
It's no surprise that a lot of stuff reads differently to me as an adult, but the one that surprised me the most was "Lodgers"—an amazing gem of a small-scale horror story, which relies so heavily on the point of view of a single parent dealing with mundane problems (based much more closely on Aiken's own experience than I knew), and on letting the reader piece together what's really happening from separate hints, that the strong impact it still had on me as a kid, even when a lot of that stuff went over my head, just goes to show how good she was at atmosphere and at picking a few frightening images.
(* A Bundle of Nerves does have some high points and some wilder fantasy content, I recommend it, but I don't think a kid would have patience for it. Whether it's really a good idea for a kid to be reading A Touch of Chill either, I can't say... it sure is incredibly dark, but I was into that.)
It's no surprise that a lot of stuff reads differently to me as an adult, but the one that surprised me the most was "Lodgers"—an amazing gem of a small-scale horror story, which relies so heavily on the point of view of a single parent dealing with mundane problems (based much more closely on Aiken's own experience than I knew), and on letting the reader piece together what's really happening from separate hints, that the strong impact it still had on me as a kid, even when a lot of that stuff went over my head, just goes to show how good she was at atmosphere and at picking a few frightening images.
(* A Bundle of Nerves does have some high points and some wilder fantasy content, I recommend it, but I don't think a kid would have patience for it. Whether it's really a good idea for a kid to be reading A Touch of Chill either, I can't say... it sure is incredibly dark, but I was into that.)
November 4, 2024
I read this book as a child (under 10) more than once. I then spent the next 30+ years searching for it just based on the one story "He." After some help from @myoldbooks on Instagram, I found it and got it--accidentally buying the British version instead of the American version I'd read as a child. But luckily, about half of the stories (including "He") cross over between the two volumes. I would give the book as a whole three stars but give "He" five, since it holds up 100% from what I remembered as a child. (Hence the four-star rating here.) "He" is, for me, the standout story in this volume. The others are...fine. Some of them feel more complete than others. The endings of many of them are implied, which is totally fine, and others feel like they just stop in the middle of the plot without any implication of a resolution. The story "Listening" really intrigued me, and I'd be interested to find an academic analysis of it. But my biggest overall comment about the book as a whole is WHY WAS THIS IN THE CHILDREN'S SECTION OF THE LIBRARY? Seriously. There is murder, rape (in the British version, not the American), adultery, and the main characters are almost always adults. I am mind-boggled by this.
July 6, 2024
Joan Aiken's writing is very good and quite atmospheric, but unfortunately she can't seem to commit and actually tell a story. Two or three of these are pretty good, but a lot of the stories don't end so much as they just stop. Imagine telling someone a joke but then intentionally never giving them the punchline. This theme of blue balls is all over the book, as she repeatedly gets you really excited about mysteries that will remain mysterious and raises questions she has no intention of answering.
A Long Way To Swim is probably my favorite. It too ends ambiguously, but in a good way for once.
A Long Way To Swim is probably my favorite. It too ends ambiguously, but in a good way for once.
September 2, 2019
Most stories were a bit weak really. I was not that scared, and do not think I would have been even as a ten year old. Most of them were just a bit silly- the black a white story for instance, it really didn't work the way it was supposed to. Maybe they just needed a bit more work.
April 9, 2024
A collection of short stories from the late 70's, very British, eerie, atmospheric, with beautiful descriptions, but many stories remain vague contentwise and end abruptly, as if every last page was omitted ... Memorable in certain scenes but feels rather unfinished : 3 out of 5
September 27, 2021
* 2,5 Sterne
June 15, 2023
My least favourite Aiken collection thus far.
September 3, 2019
I really dug Joan Aiken's horror and "weird tales" when I was a tween & young teen. I said in my journal from 1985 that "She's a very good writer. Creepy as all get out."
February 17, 2025
This book is worth reading, if only for the last story which is by far the creepiest. All of the stories were odd to some degree, and most had some level of menace, but I would only classify a couple as truly “horror”. That said, I enjoyed reading it! Joan Aiken is a talented writer, and reminds me a bit of Ray Bradbury.
October 5, 2010
It's been a few years since I read this book of short, somewhat creepy, stories, but I just remember that most of them were very entertaining with really interesting characters. The one I remember most was the story titled "He" and even to this day I still think about it. The book almost feels like "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark", but directed for a teenage or adult audience in the form of short stories.
February 23, 2016
Most of these stories aren't scary as much as they are creepy. There were a couple I didn't fully understand, but there were none I disliked. A few were more sad than anything else, but overall I liked this collection of stories.
June 10, 2016
Apparently I'm one of the few who didn't like this book, the first story was stupid. It took forever for anything to happen and the end the boy turned into a tree. There is maybe 3 good stories. The majority of them wore boring.
April 8, 2016
Not as chilling as I'd hoped, although some of the stories were amazing.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews