Book 6?????: Midnight Is a Place (Lucas and Anne-Marie)
I would be upset that this book was even less
connected to the previous Aiken novels except that it was so very good. I have
one reference book of reading series that does not show Midnight Is a Place as a
part of the Wolves Chronicles. I also
have one web site we refer to often that lists reading series order that shows
it as 6th. I took my chance and I feel I won regardless of which
reference source is correct.
The book begins in Midnight Court, a mansion owned
by Sir Randolph. The mansion did not always belong to Sir Randolph who acquired
it through less than honorable means. The original owner was a Sir Quincy who
also built a textile factory on the river and hired the locals to work there.
The town of Blastburn grew up around Midnight Court to support the local
workers and their families.
Sir Quincy had always intended for his son, Dennis,
to inherit the property and business, but Dennis was more interested music and
gambling. Disheartened, Sir Quincy began to neglect the workers of his mill and
the mill itself. When Dennis lost his birthright to a young Randolph, Sir
Quincy died of heartbreak and Dennis was forced to leave the country.
Sir Randolph did nothing to improve working
conditions at the Mill and seemed to have no interest in the business itself
except to make money which he quickly gambled away. He hired a business
partner, a Mr. Bell, who eventually moved to India with his wife to oversee the
trade end of the business. Ultimately, the Bells died of malaria in India and
their son Lucas is sent back to the Midnight Court and to Sir Randolph acting
as benefactor.
Lucas Bell is twelve and old enough to begin to
learn the family business although he also holds no interest for it. He is a
lonely boy who prefers to write letters to an imaginary friend. Sir Randolph
has supplied him a tutor, a Mr. Oakapple, and although Lucas is keen to learn,
he is desperately isolated in a mansion full of old men and servants.
And then Anne-Marie arrives. She is a small French
girl who looks younger than her age. She is a new orphan and is grieving wildly
and uncontrollably for her papa and her cat – in French. Fortunately, Lucas has
been learning French and now he has opportunity to use it. Anne-Marie wants no
one but her papa. Lucas certainly doesn’t want to play with a little girl, but
circumstances throw them together.
One night, a fire burns down the mansion, their
home. It also takes Sir Randolph, their benefactor and injures Mr. Oakapple,
the only other adult who can speak on their behalf. The two children must find
food and shelter. They must find medical care for their tutor as well as pay
for it. It is time to find jobs. Will they sell homemade cigars? Will they tosh
in the sewer? Will they face the jaws of the press in the mill? Yes, yes, and
yes. But they will survive and the story isn’t over. Ghosts will come out of
the stonework!
I recommend this novel to those unusual kids, 4th-8th
grade, who have a mind for “classic gothic thrillers”. This is British fantasy.
This is Victorian England. This is more sophisticated than Lemony Snicket but
has the same elements – orphaned children, reversal of fortune, evil benefactors,
and untrustworthy adults. Yeah, that’s it. This is Dickens for kids!
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