Weeping Ash

Two intertwining adventures – one of English drama and one of Indian conflict – both meet at the Paget family home in the second of Joan Aiken’s romantic regency adventures, The Weeping Ash. Perfect for fans of Bridgerton, the romantic drama series from Netflix inspired by Julia Quinn's novels.Juliana Paget kindly lends The Hermitage Estate to her widowed cousin Thomas and his new wife Fanny – on one condition – that if their missing cousins arrive they must be welcomed in. Little does Juliana know that cousin Thomas is an abusive tyrant who torments his stoic wife, entrapping her in the beautiful Paget house.Thousands of miles away in India, twin Paget cousins Scylla, governess to the old Maharaja's family, and her poet brother Cal are fleeing for their lives with the orphaned royal heir. They must survive a perilous journey - assisted by the dashing Colonel Cameron - across Kafiristan, Afghanistan, Persia, and Turkey before finally arriving at The Hermitage Estate.But the adventure does not stop here. A dark and explosive confrontation awaits the Pagets as Aiken's two spirited heroines strive for independence in this thrilling romantic adventure.

Two separate threads join into a triumphant knot in Joan Aiken’s Napoleonic novel . . . very neatly plotted and very entertaining, Joan Aiken combines a sense of the past with the sophistication of a modern novel full of suspense and excitement . . . she provides a full spectrum of colours, incidents, character and thought, Robust, stylishly told, and involving many magnetic characters . . . The Weeping Ash is among the best novels yet from the talented Joan Aiken, Joan Aiken gives us a story that is rich in colourful backgrounds, exciting in action, and with characters so engaging I hated to leave them. One of my favourite authors, Aiken beautifully intertwines two remarkable tales to create a cohesive romantic suspense . . . the fates of these two young women, Fanny and Scylla, are deliberately and intriguingly paralleled, forming the central activity of the novel

Joan Aiken was born in Rye, Sussex in 1924, daughter of the American poet Conrad Aiken, and started writing herself at the age of five. Since the 1960s she wrote full time and published over 100 books. Best known for her children’s books such as The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and Midnight is a Place, she also wrote extensively for adults and published many contemporary and historical novels, including sequels to novels by Jane Austen. In 1968 she won the Guardian Children’s book prize for Whispering Mountain, followed by an Edgar Allan Poe award for Night Fall in 1972, and was awarded an MBE for her services to children’s literature in 1999.Joan Aiken died in 2004.

Book Partnerships

For the Fans