Sylvia knew better, however, than to accept food from strangers. Maybe too good, like the witch’s house made of sweets. It’s a mean way to tempt children! His box of treats sounds like a dream. he turned round next minute with a confectioner’s pasteboard carton filled with every imaginable variety of little cakes – there were jam tarts, maids of honour, lemon cheese cakes, Chelsea buns, and numerous little iced confections in brilliant and enticing colours.” ‘All little girls like sweeties, I know.’ “‘Now come along – do,’ said the man coaxingly. For example, Mr Grimshaw, who later turns out to be an accomplice of Miss Slighcarp, tries to lure Sylvia with food on the long and cold train journey to Willoughby Chase. What I liked about this book is that food was skillfully used to describe the characters and situations. However, their happy new life is soon turned upside down by the arrival of their new governess Miss Slighcarp, who eventually takes over the household. Sylvia, who lives in London with her old and poor aunt Jane, is sent to Willoughby Chase, the grand and remote home of Sir Willoughby, to keep her cousin Bonnie company while her parents are away for holiday. The story is set in a fictional early-19th century England and it tells of the adventures of cousins Bonnie and Sylvia. The synopsis on the back of the book read, “Long ago, at a time in history that never happened, England was overrun with wolves.” I thought, ‘Great!’ When I was browsing books in a book shop, the cool book cover with wolves illustrated by Rohan Eason caught my eyes. You may ask why this book? All I can say is that I was in the mood for something Gothic and dark. For the second book, I picked The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken. As I wrote in the previous post, I’ve been illustrating scenes with food from children’s book classics to build up my portfolio.

The wolves of willoughby chase