THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE by Joan Aiken (1962)

Illustrated by Pat Marriott. Yearling, 1987 edition. 168 pages. ISBN: 0440496039.

In this Dickensian and gothic-tinged tale, good Lady Sophia and Sir Willoughby Green leave their home in the English countryside, a grand estate called Willoughby Chase, for a holiday intended to allow Lady Green to recover from an illness. They leave their daughter, Bonnie, and her orphaned cousin, Sylvia, in the charge of a Governess—the pernicious Miss Slighcarp, who happens to be a distant relation. However, something sinister is afoot.

Miss Slighcarp proves herself to be cruel and secretive. She turns up in Bonnie’s mother’s best gown, and dismisses the loyal family servants. When the girls spy on Slighcarp through a secret passage in the walls of the house, they find that Slighcarp is in the process of destroying Sir Willoughby’s will and replacing it with a forgery, that would cut them out, entirely. It also seems that the vessel that Bonnie’s parents have been set up to embark upon is not a seaworthy vessel. Miss Slighcarp has set her sights on the property of Willoughby Chase and all of the riches of the Greens’ assets, and she will stop at nothing to be able to achieve her malignant goal. She arranges to shuffle the children off to a “school” for orphans which can be more aptly described as a workhouse, but, through daring, wit, and the help of a quirky cast of characters, Bonnie and Sylvia escape the drudgery of the “school” and strive to ruin the vile Miss Slighcarp’s plans. —Jacqueline Danziger-Russell