Another great and rousing adventure for Aiken. If her ability to craft a fully realised novel waned somewhat in her latter years, her capacity for invention and for voice and place and drama did not. A stew of creepy characters and plots surround the dying king, hidden away by Simon. Dido, returned from Nantucket, is rudely kidnapped and held captive by as despicable a trio of villains as has ever graced the pages of a children's novel: a werewolf, his revolting son and the Duchess of Burgundy. Flood waters rise and invading forces approach and mysterious letters are exchanged by pigeon and Simon befriends some sheep and Dido meets a Woodlouse. Too brief, perhaps, but easily loved.