In the town of Blastburn, England, stands a dark mansion called Midnight Court. Midnight Mill, the town’s carpet factory, darkens the sky with its smoke. Gloom and hardship became a way of life to the millworkers when years before, the Murgatroyd family lost both the town and the factory to Sir Randolph. Young Lucas Bell endures a dismal existence at Midnight Court. His father, who had been Sir Randolph's business partner, is dead. Sir Randolph is an embittered drunkard who pays him scant attention, and Mr. Oakapple, his tutor, is a stern young man. When feisty Anna-Marie Murgatroyd comes to Midnight Court as Sir Randolph’s ward, she provides a welcome diversion in Lucas' life. Then, one dark winter night, Midnight Court is destroyed by fire. With no home and no money, Lucas and Anna-Marie roam the unfriendly streets of Blastburn. They eventually find odd jobs, rent an attic room, and help Nurse Mr. Oakapple back to health. When the children find Anna’s grandmother, Lady Murgatroyd, living in a cave in Midnight Court Park, they hope that she will be able to set things right.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com ( )

Aiken does such a fabulous job of contrasting precocious children with adults who are either well-meaning but slightly incompetent at best or downright evil at worst. This story started out a little slow, but lived up to my Aiken expectations in the end. ( )

I love these Dickens-like reads. ( )

The author, Joan Aiken, has a writing style that appealed to me as a child, but as an adult it still has me turning the pages of her books with alacrity, wondering how each situation will be resolved. There is only a little foreshadowing, too, though the younger reader might miss subtle references altogether. Good characters, twisty plots, and enough descriptions to illustrate the tale without bogging it down. ( )

I was interested to read this view of Blastburn, as compared to the Blastburn/Holdernesse/Playland in Is Underground. This is a far more realistic story than Is's - no magical thought messages or anything like that, just fraud, extortion, vicious pranks and plots, and a grim, dark setting. Plus, well, a couple kids - upper-class kids, at that - managing for themselves after every adult responsible for them is either dead, injured, or deliberately rejecting them - not very realistic, but still well-presented. For all that, there's hope - there's people who love one another, people striving to achieve their dreams and to help others to the same achievement, and a hopeful - not happy, but hopeful - ending. I can't quite see this Blastbourne turning into Is's - at least, not once Holdernesse turns out to be nice guy - but give it a generation or two and just about anything could happen. But then I'd have expected to find some Bells or Murgatroyds around the old town. Good story, and probably more worth rereading than most of the Wolves series proper. ( )