Joan Aiken (September 4, 1924 - January 4, 2004)
Joan Delano Aiken (September 4, 1924 – January 4, 2004) was an English novelist. She was born in Rye, East Sussex, into a family of writers, including her father, Conrad Aiken (who won a Pulitzer Prize for his poetry), and her sister, Jane Aiken Hodge. She worked for the BBC and the UNIC, before she started writing professionally, mainly children's books and thrillers. For her books she received the Guardian Award (1969) and the Edgar Allan Poe Award (1972).
Many of her most popular books, including the Wolves Chronicles
, were set in an elaborate alternate history of Britain in which James II is never deposed in the Glorious Revolution, but supporters of the House of Hanover continually agitate against the monarchy. These books also toy with the geography of London, adding a Canal District among other features. Her series of children's books about Arabel and Mortimer
are illustrated by Quentin Blake. Others are illustrated by Jan Pieńkowski. Her many novels for adults include several that continue or complement novels by Jane Austen. These include Mansfield Revisited
and Jane Fairfax
. ( Read more... )
First Book - All You've Ever Wanted (1953): All You've Ever Wanted
Last Book - The Witch of Clatteringshaws (2005): The Witch of Clatteringshaws (Wolves Chronicles)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Aiken
Margaret Frances Culkin Banning (18 March 1891 Buffalo, Minnesota - 4 January 1982 Tryon, North Carolina) was a best-selling author of thirty-six novels and early advocate of women's rights. 
For different reasons, maybe the foreign setting, maybe the male author, I was expecting for this novel to be a bit unbalanced on the adventure side, meaning that I wasn’t expecting for the romance to be of some great influence, of the men in this novel to wait their action basing on their feelings.