What an awful front cover. It doesn't do justice to Dido Twite's rollicking adventures at all. So weirdly rollicking at times, I wonder if Miss Aiken had been at the Joobie nuts herself....

Our young heroine, Dido Twite, has finally returned to England after years away in "furrin parts overseas" but instead of a calm steady progress from the south coast to London, her place of birth, we find her hurtling in a death-defying dash -- in the dark -- on a mission of the greatest urgency. When the carriage-and-pair she and her fellow passenger, Captain Owen Hughes, are travelling in is stranded in the middle of nowhere after an accident, she is precipitated into an adventure involving conspiracies, inheritances, smuggling, witchery and, of course, danger.

Naturally this is almost everything that one expects to find in one of Joan Aiken's Wolves Chronicles, but we also hope we'll encounter friendship, loyalty, bravery, honesty and resourcefulness, especially when we know that Dido is involved. She'll need all those virtues in this further instalment of the alternate history series in which the Hanoverian monarchs are the pretenders to the British throne rather than the Stuarts.

In addition, for Aiken fans there's the draw of knowing that much of this story is set in a corner of the world Joan knew very well -- part of the South Downs now in West Sussex, on the road running northeast from Chichester towards the historic town of Petworth. Not only can we feel the genuine sense of place that comes with a novel set in real locations but also the emotional connections the author may have had for here -- albeit with frequent dark shadows obscuring our view.

There are rather a lot of those dark shadows. What reason could anyone have for stopping urgent dispatches getting to London before the new king's coronation? Why do the Gentlemen whom Dido meets after the accident conceal their identities? Who are the sinister old biddies associated with the mysterious Tegleaze Manor? Who exactly are the two strange youngsters connected with this patch of Sussex countryside? Why are Miles Mystery's mannikins causing unease in Petworth, and why does Dido find the tunes played by a hidden oboist oddly familiar? And how is an elephant instrumental in helping thwart a dastardly plan to slide St Paul's Cathedral and its congregation into the Thames?

To say much more would be to reveal too much of the ins and outs of this involving fantasy. The story has a forward momentum which is scarcely held up by the usual cast of several dozen characters with which Aiken peoples the chronicles. Lovers of literature will appreciate turns of phrase such as this, plucked at random, of a teenager's "sad smile, like a wind-ripple over a field of long grass"; while those with a penchant for detail and references will also enjoy cryptic allusions to Russell Thorndyke's Dr Syn novels, the image of the coat of arms of the Worshipful Company of Cutlers and the coincidence of title and publication date of Charles Dickens' first novel, among many other examples.

At the heart of The Cuckoo Tree, as with many of Joan Aiken's novels, lies love. Dido Twite has been aching to get back home after voyaging around the world for a number of years on wild goose chases, her principal concern being to reconnect with people who showed her care and affection. Will it be her father, or someone else in her depleted family? Or will it be the young man who nursed her through an illness and who kindly gave her rides on his donkey?

All of a sudden she felt lonely -- almost choked with loneliness. Tobit's got Cris, she thought, and Cap'n Hughes has his boy Owen, but who've I got? Such thoughts were not sensible, she knew . . . But all the hospitality in the world is not the same has having someone of your own.

Does she get someone of her own, or will she forever be the cuckoo in the nest? Perusal of The Cuckoo Tree will point the way. ( )

This book was actually the first one I read from this series, back when I was about 9 years old. I absolutely loved it and I loved its sequel, Dido and Pa. This books is what sparked my interest in the whole series and I'm so happy to get the chance to read it now in the correct order! I wanted to know if, after reading about all of Dido's other adventures, whether my opinion on this novel would be different or not ... so here is my review:

Once again, we are in for a wacky adventure. Every time Dido had a remark or thought about something, I couldn't help but laugh - she is just that funny and sarcastic of a character. There's quite a bit of witchy magic going on in this novel, which was super fun to read about. This novel was a bit darker than Dido's time on Nantucket, but I really liked that because it gave it a bit more depth. Of course, depth doesn't mean that this novel was more serious; if anything, the story was even wackier than any before it! We have the presence of an elephant again, which was something that I just didn't understand, and didn't like as much, but overall, this story was just as fun to read as every other one in the series. After rereading this book, I think it is still one of my favorite novels in this series! Now, time for the next one! ( )

3.5 stars. I liked it, but it was missing something. Debated reviewing it on my blog, but decided I didn't have enough to say about it. ( )

At the height of her powers, there's no-one to match Aiken for the verve and ingenuity of her stories, and for heroines, there's precious few to match the inimitable Dido Twite. Returned at last from her voyaging, Did quickly becomes ensnared in another Hanoverian plot to do something utterly mad at the coronation ceremony of the new king. Witches and smugglers and lost twins and scheming cousins and cheerful smugglers and sinister puppet shows are all elements of this rollicking tale. Fantastic. ( )