Midwinter Nightingale

This was written towards the close of Joan Aiken’s life, which is perhaps why it’s also preoccupied with aging and death – it fits in with the other Wolves books, but is a bit more gruesome – there’s death after death from people being eaten alive, shot, falling off cliffs, being shut in boxes, and being covered by molten silver. While Dido retains her usual matter-of-fact survival sense, she does end the book by weeping – weeping because Simon is now King of England and it will destroy their relationship. She probably does get over it, knowing her, but I don’t know if we’ve seen her cry before. It is just as clever, with the same play on language and the same interesting characters, but there’s a definite sadness throughout the story which perhaps was the author knowing she was going to have to say goodbye.