Kiran Millwood Hargrave | an introduction to ‘Tales of London Town’ by Joan Aiken
Stop Press! The wonderful writer Kiran Millwood Hargrave will introduce our brand new collection of Joan Aiken’s magical stories set in an other-worldly London - Tales of London Town - published this year to celebrate the centenary of the author’s birth in 1924.
One of the drawbacks of publishing forgotten classics is that many of the wonderful authors we rediscover tend not to be alive anymore!
Luckily I have the pleasure of working with some of my favourite contemporary writers when I find the perfect match for the introductions to each of our titles.
Ever since my daughter first fell in love with The Girl of Ink and Stars, we have been devoted fans of Kiran’s in our house - most recently I was floored by her novel for adults - The Mercies - which I devoured to the exclusion of all work, rest and play.
And so I was over the moon when Kiran agreed to introduce our forthcoming London-based collection of other-worldly stories by Joan Aiken - Tales of London Town. Her introduction is a sparkling homage to the writing of Joan Aiken, as this excerpt reveals:
"My first encounter with Aiken’s stories was A Necklace of Raindrops and other stories, illustrated by Jan Pieńkowski. The images were beautiful, chiaroscuro cut outs set against washes of colour, but the stories dazzled even brighter. Here was everything my eight-year-old-mind wanted: tigers and one-legged houses and apple sky pies, toothsome and strange tales so vivid I did not feel entirely safe reading them, as though I might tumble into the pages. It was thrilling, and threatening, and I loved every moment."
Kiran grew up dreaming of owning her own necklace of raindrops. She is now the Sunday Times bestselling author of ten novels for children and adults, including The Girl of Ink & Stars, Julia and the Shark, The Mercies, and In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen. Her books have won the overall Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the British Book Awards Children’s Book of the Year, the Wainwright Prize, a Betty Trask Award, the Prix Rive Gauche à Paris, Blackwells Children’s Book of the Year and been long- or short-listed for the Carnegie, Foyles Book of the Year, Costa Book Awards, the Blue Peter Book Award, the Kirkus Prize, and the Prix Femina. Her stories have been translated into over thirty languages and optioned for stage and screen. She lives between a river and a forest with her husband, daughter, and two cats.
Tales of London Town will be officially published in June, but advance orders for April delivery can be placed below, or visiting us at manderleypress.com.
All books ordered through our website will include a matching bookmark, designed exclusively for Manderley Press customers, and are posted out wrapped in tissue paper and tied with a silk ribbon.
