Black Hearts in Battersea

Time to press on to Black Hearts in Battersea, the second in Joan Aiken's Willoughby Chase series of novels. Black Hearts is the first book in the sequence to bring some of the alternate history elements — Battersea castle and its dukes; James III and the Hanoverians — into relief. It also has the distinction of being the first book to feature the delightful Dido Twite, the protagonist of the next few novels in the series.

The book opens with Simon's arrival in London. Having uncovered a talent for art in The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Simon has won a place at the Riviere's Academy thanks to the patronage of Dr Field. But when he arrives at Dr Field's lodgings, he finds the doctor gone and his landlords — the unspeakable Twites — claiming never to have laid eyes on him. Staying in what he suspects are Field's old rooms while he decides what to do, Simon finds himself a part-time job with a local cartwright, impresses the head of the Academy, and, through his kindness and generosity, makes a firm friend of Dido Twite, his hosts neglected daughter. Simon also discovers that Sophie, an old friend from his days at Gloober's Poor Farm, is now lady's maid to the Duchess of Battersea and, following a chance encounter with someone he believes to be a batty old man, he makes friends with the eccentric Duke.

As the plot starts to unfold, Simon realises that a local group of Hanoverians — dedicated to overthrowing James Stuart in favour of one of the Electors of Hanover — are trying to bump off the Duke of Battersea, and that the rather indiscreet Twites are probably up to their eyeballs in it. After the Duke and Duchess are repeated saved by the timely intervention of Sophie, who uses the Duchess' needle-work in a series of increasingly innovative ways, the Hanoverians decide to deal with Simon's curiosity for once and all.

As with Wolves Aiken has a lot of fun playing with the established tropes of 19th century novels, without allowing her characters and settings to slip into cliche. Thus it's clear early on that Simon and Sophie are probably likely to discover that they're not nearly as alone in the world as their orphan status makes them appear. It's also obvious that Dido, the chirpy cockney who blossoms as soon as someone starts paying attention to her, is able to transcend her circumstances and shifty parentage — and in the best traditions of these things, it's the battle-axe-like Ella who is devoted Hanoverian with the somewhat lazy Abednego tagging along largely to keep his wife and in-laws happy — and it's easy to see why Aiken picked her up as the heroine of later books in the series.

The plot lines are similarly diverse, taking in everything from children raised in the wilderness — Sophie's first few years were spent parented by an otter and later an old charcoal burner before being removed to the poor farm — to Stevenson's Kidnapped — although Aiken bends things so that instead of meeting a friendly Jacobite, the abductees are taken in by a friendly Hanoverian. There are historical borrowings — the plotters are clearly fans of Guy Fawkes — and flights of outright fantasy, including a hot-air balloon trip from Yorkshire to London in midwinter.

One of the novel's other great delights is the language used by the native Londoners. The Twites have a particularly nice line in working-class slang — I particularly like croopus! — talk about bits of prog, and Dido's description of being broke — "I haven't a tosser to my kick" — whilst trying to persuade Simon to play cribbage for money; while the more aristocratic Justin Lord Bakerloo has a way with insults, constantly referring to his overbearing tutor as a cheese-faced old screw or some variant thereof. I have no idea how much of this is genuine and how much is made up, but it's used so consistently and effectively that it adds a lot to the book's atmosphere.

Once again I enjoyed the book as much as every, especially the chance to see dear old Dido in her early incarnation as she starts to grow from a neglected urchin into the kind-hearted girl of the later novels.