The serial garden short story

Joan Aiken is probably better known as the author of a number of novels for children, including The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and Black Hearts in Battersea. I never really got on with her novels, but I adored her short stories, particularly those that featured the Armitage family.

The Armitages were your typical s middle class family. They lived in a big house with a cook and a maid, and Mr Armitage went off to work each day while his wife was a lady who lunched and the children, Mark and Harriet, went off to boarding school or amused themselves.

Unless it was Monday or the occasional Tuesday. On Mondays, very unusual things tend to happen to the Armitages. They might end the day with a new pet unicorn, or find themselves going for afternoon tea with a ghost, or having lessons in the middle of the night with a ghostly governess.

The only problem with particularly loving the Armitage stories was that they were scattered throughout various collections, most of which are now out of print. And then 9 years ago came the glorious news — they were collecting all the Armitage stories into one book and naming it after my favourite story.

Thanks to an extraordinarily wide range of reading in her early years, and her belief in the benefits of a powerful imagination, Joan was prepared for almost anything. Home English Online. Read Book Download Book. The Single Staircase by Ingwalson, Matt. Forget Me Not by Stormy Glenn. The Advocate's Conviction by Teresa Burrell. Harbinger by Cyndi Friberg. The Tortoise in Asia by Tony Grey.

Eden's Pass by Kimberly Nee. I found this book in Half Price Books and my mother encouraged me to get it. I reluctantly capitulated and now it's one of my favorite books ever! Proof you should listen to your mother! Mar 28, AM. I was heartbroken when I read the short story The Serial Garden as a child, and I still find it very moving.

A Junior Library Guild Selection. She was a literary treasure, and her books will continue to delight for many years to come. After Mrs. Armitage makes a wish, the Armitage family has interesting and unusual experiences every Monday and the occasional Tuesday. The Board of Incantation tries to take over their house to use as a school for young wizards; the Furies come to stay; and a cutout from a cereal box leads into a beautiful and tragic palace garden.