The Serial Garden by Joan Aiken #WitchWeek2024

Those who only know Joan Aiken from the beloved The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and later books in the series or her much admired adult regency historicals may not realize she was also a gifted writer of short stories. This collection contains 24 stories about the quirky Armitage family, not published in one place previously, and includes introductions from Aiken’s daughter Lizza and by author Garth Nix. I am not sure how I missed the Armitages. 

My library had Smoke from Cromwell’s Time and my sister owned A Necklace of Raindrops, both short story collections, but I don’t recall the Armitages being in either. What makes these stories unusual is that Mark, Harriet, and their parents live in an ordinary English village that is full of magical elements, which don’t seem to surprise anyone although they are disruptive as often as they are enjoyable – unicorns in the garden, miniature people moving into the attic, a witch turns Mr. and Mrs. Armitage into ladybirds (“After all, it’s rather nice and peaceful like this,” observe their children, taking advantage of the situation “to eat twice as much as usual and open a pot of strawberry jam to fortify them in their orphaned state”).

My favorite story was the one for which the collection is named, The Serial Garden:

“Cold rice pudding for breakfast?” said Mark, looking at it with disfavor.

“Don’t be fussy,” said his mother. “You’re the only one who’s complaining.” This was unfair, for she and Mark were the only members of the family at the table, Harriet having developed measles while staying with a school friend, while Mr. Armitage had somehow managed to lock himself into the larder.

Mrs. Armitage says it will be hours before the locksmith releases Mr. Armitage (where all the food is) but tells Mark he can run to the village shop to buy some cereal. Her shop is full usually of expired food but Mark optimistically chooses a packet called Brekkfast Brikks. They don’t taste very good but Mark is intrigued by the model garden on the back of the packet so he chokes down the cereal so he can cut out all the cardboard pieces and assemble the garden with plenty of sticky tape. His father admires the art and says it looks like an 18th century German engraving. To Mark’s surprise, as he absently sings a tune the garden comes to life and he finds himself in it. When he returns to his playroom, he examines what’s left of the packet and realizes he has only one of the six packets with garden art, so he borrows money from his father and rushes back to the store to buy five more dusty packets of Brekkfast Brikks. His pained father says he wouldn’t try another piece if it were covered with foie gras but Mark doggedly eats it all so he can assemble more of the garden (Aiken's own love of gardens is apparent in the description of this one).

When the assembly is complete and Mark enters the garden, he finds a German princess who has been waiting (for 200 years?) for her true love, her music instructor. But the tune that conveys Mark in and out of the garden turns out to have been written by Mark’s music teacher and excited, Mark guesses Mr. Johansen is the princess’s Rudi and tries to reunite them. Hurry, hurry, I said as I read, perhaps subconsciously remembering that Joan likes to “discard the predictables of the genre,” as Kirkus said about one of her more shocking books, The Embroidered Sunset. Well, Mark tried but he was not fast enough and that's all I can say here!

Another story involves a legacy, a favorite topic of mine:

“Just imagine – Miss Hooting has left us something in her will!”

Cousin Elspeth was all ears at once. Making and remaking her own will had been her favorite hobby for years past, and since arriving at the Armitage house she had already subtracted £400 and a writing desk from Mark’s legacy, because he had neglected to pass her the jam, and was deliberating about whether to bequeath a favorite brown mohair stole to Harriet, who had politely inquired about her lumbago.

Various things go wrong during Cousin Elspeth’s visit due to robots left to the Armitages by Miss Hooting so neither of those legacies pans out, and Harriet comments ruefully that she doesn’t think this relative will be paying for art school (or anything else) for her and Mark!

I read this for Witch Week 2024, hosted by Chris at Calmgrove and Lizzie Ross. The stories about this family were written over many years, according to Lizza Aiken, from 1944 to 2004, and the children seem ageless, although Harriet turns 13 in one of these stories – I think she is the older sibling. I think the book would appeal to children and adults of all ages, and most would be great to read aloud.

Title: The Serial Garden
Author: Joan Aiken
Publication: Big Mouth House, trade paperback, originally published in 2008
Genre: Juvenile fantasy
Source: Personal copy

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