I first read this book when I was about 8 or 9 years old, and then somehow or other I must have lost the copy - because as an adult I could never remember the title of it, but it always haunted me as a story which I fell in love with. Then, about 7 or 8 years ago, when I happened to describe it to a friend, they said 'you mean Midnight is a Place by Joan Aiken.' So I bought a new copy, and re-read it - again and again. I would say that it's probably one of the most influential children's books I ever read. It explores the idea of child labour and child poverty in a way that completely captivated me when I was 9. It's set around the time of the Industrial Revolution, and shows children having to work in the Lancashire cotton mills, the kind of conditions they had to tolerate. The little ink or pencil illustrations were particularly captivating to me as a child, showing the 'snatcher' - the girl who had to run out onto the carpet beneath a big massive press, which would squash her if she tripped and fell. Her job was to remove any spare bits of fluff from the carpet, which would spoil the design if they were left in place when the press came down. So the 'snatcher' was also the fastest, smallest child - and their life expectancy was not very long. This is the 'hook' if you like, into the novel - particularly for child readers. For this is based on a true fact, I believe. The illustration of this in the book mesmerized me, the idea that a child would be subjected to that. It has to be added, of course, that in some parts of the world child labour still is an issue, and we are all part of the machine which perpetuates it, whether we like it or not.The two main characters in the book, Lucas Bell and Anne-Marie, are orphans, left to a guardian who lives in the gloomy Gothic Midnight Court, which overlooks the town of Blastburn. Their guardian, however, the owner of the cotton mills and factories, is heavily in debt and in his alcoholic-fuelled madness decides to burn down his own mansion. As a result, the two orphans are left homeless and destitute, and have to learn to survive in the harsh world that is Blastburn. The book contains graphic descriptions of their work in both the cotton mills, and also down the sewers, where Lucas earns pennies looking for valuable dosh in the underground world of sewers and tunnels, filled with death and danger. This is a very far cry from the life Lucas had before, where he was educated by a tutor and wrote essays on the Industrial Revolution. Now he has come face to face with the reality of it all. It's an excellent, many-layered book which I loved as a child, and which I still love now, having re-discovered it.
I picked up this book in a second hand shop when I was about ten and was captivated from start to finish. I don't think it's too harsh and gloomy at all. As a child I loved reading about the tough challenges that Lucas and Anna-Marie face as they try to make their way through the world. I still reread it every few years and enjoy it as much as ever. I think it's important for children to read about characters who have difficult lives. A lot of real life children face all sorts of challenges and if they read about fictional children surviving and finding solutions they may be more able to act positively in their own lives. Well that's how it worked for me anyway. Any amount of gloom is fine by me as long as it's dealt with in a practical way and there's a reasonably happy ending and a dose of humour in there somewhere. I thought Midnight is a Place was much better than The Wolves of Willoughby Chase as it wasn't nearly as sentimental. And this book was outstanding source material when I had to do a school project on the Industrial Revolution. I think it was out of print at the time and not a lot of people had heard of it so my teacher was very impressed at my ability to imagine myself into the life of a child factory worker!
Do You like book Midnight Is A Place (2002)?
After his parents die, Lukas is sent to live with an alcoholic, gambling miser. His only companions an emotionally distant tutor and the few servants who will give him any company. Things go from bad to worse for Luke when eight-year-old Anna-Marie is sent to live with them as well. After a tragic fire the children are once again orphaned and must learn to fend for themselves in the dismal town of Blastburn. A Dickens-like tale for a younger audience, Joan Aiken never disappoints. Four and a half stars for this one if I could.
—Tracie
Joan Aiken is a master at creating atmosphere, and Midnight Is a Place is no exception; the book could well be called a Gothic novel for children, with its orphaned hero (and heroine), disagreeable guardian, mysterious events, and gloomy setting. Lucas Bell, an orphan, lives with his guardian, Sir Randolph Grimsby, and his tutor, Julian Oakapple, in an old mansion called Midnight Court; soon after the arrival of Anna Marie, another orphan and the grandchild of the previous owner of Midnight Court, Lucas and Anna Marie are forced to fend for themselves on the streets of the dismal city of Blastburn. There is never a dull moment; the story speeds along, through the dangerous mill where the workers may be crushed by a press or drowned in glue, to the sewers where man-eating hogs run in packs. The force of Aiken's imagination is present on every page, in the suspenseful story, the memorable characters, and the ominous atmosphere.
—Margaret
Joan Aiken continues her proto-steampunk adventures for children. Less silly than the Willoughby Chase series (no one bounces ten feet in the air on a windowseat cushion, for example), the standard Aiken universe is still in place--a place called Midnight. Plucky kids are still being done out of their homes and inheritance by unscrupulous adults. Good folks still live underground. And industry is still a bad thing, although in this book we are told as much right out loud, as Grandmere and Mr Oakapple inveigh against the "evils" of tools. I suppose "Midnight" is a reference to Blake's "dark, satanic mills." The plucky kids make money the best way they know how, whether it's picking apart cigar butts for the tobacco, to make "new" cheroots to sell (and if the nicotine doesn't kill you, the second-hand bacteria will!) or grubbing about in the sewers and garbage heaps for sellable secondhand items. I think Aiken must have seen the film "The Mudlarks" at some point.The authoress' French isn't up to much, but that's OK, it's fictional French and I doubt many of her child readers know more than a few words anyway. I am a bit surprised at how little I have to say about this book, but then it didn't make much of an impression. It was a quick read, and if I'd been about 11 or 12 I probably would have loved it. As it is, I found the ambience began to pall about two-thirds of the way through, and the wrap was hurried and patchy to say the very least. Two and a half stars.
—Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all)
