The People in the Castle

Q: Do I have to buy the ebook to participate in a book club?

No, you don’t have to buy the ebook to participate, but we do recommend it to get the most out of your club. There are several premium social reading features that are only available when you buy the ebook, like annotations, reactions, comment threads, resources, discussion prompts, and more, all embedded right in the text. It’s a unique and immersive way to read.

Q: Why can’t I buy the ebook on the app?

It’s annoying, we know. App store rules prevent us from selling directly in the app, so for now you can only purchase ebooks on our website. Don’t worry: when you purchase an ebook on the web, it’s automatically added to your bookshelf in the app.

Q: How is Fable’s reader different from Kindle?

Kindle is a straightforward e-reader; Fable is an interactive e-reader that includes social features inside the ebooks. When you read an ebook on Fable, you can see and react to the text with others in real time. Start a discussion, share highlights and quotes, add emoji reactions—all of it lives right inside the book. It’s hard to explain and easy to see, so we recommend reading the free sample in one of our most active clubs to get a feel for it.

Q: Do you sell physical books too?

We do not sell physical books at this time. Wish we did? Let us know why here!

Q: Are book clubs free to join on Fable?

Most of our clubs are completely free to join. The only exceptions are clubs marked as “Premium” or “Career Development,” which do require a fee. You can find out more on each club’s detail page.

Q: How do I start a book club with this book on Fable?

The first step is to download the Fable app. From there, you’ll be able to create your own private or public book club and invite others to read with you. Once your club is created, click on the plus sign under “Currently reading” and search for this book to add it to your club.

By Joan Aiken & Lizza Aiken &

Publisher Description

Best known for The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Joan Aiken (1924-2004) wrote over a hundred books and won the Guardian and Edgar Allan Poe awards. After her first husband’s death, she supported her family by copyediting at Argosy magazine and an advertising agency before turning to fiction. She went on to write for Vogue, Good Housekeeping, Vanity Fair, Argosy, Women’s Own, and many others. Visit her online at: www.joanaiken.com.

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9 Reviews

3.0

Andrea Krummel

Created almost 3 years ago

Lefty Lauren

Created about 5 years ago

“I only read the short story "Furry Night," as read by Levar Burton on his podcast. It was terrible.”

Wayward Bookshelf

Created over 5 years ago

“This book caught my eye on one of my last trips to Vromans Bookstore (my favorite Independent bookstore in Pasadena, CA) before I moved across the country, so I grabbed it, packed it for the move, finally got around to reading it, and really enjoyed it. I picked it up over Christmastime while we had family in town because the nature of short stories are perfect for when you only have a few minutes at a time to sit down and read. These stories are great. Quirky, at times magical, at times very realistic, and always relatable. Some of them begin, end, and wrap up quite nicely, while others meander and are very open ended. The varied nature of each tale had me turning from one to the next with a lot of curiosity as to where we were going next. Aiken's voice is spot on and livens the stories but is always sure to give the characters the spotlight. My personal favorites in the collection were ??? about a young boy who is heir to a great estate with apparent untapped mysteries, but has some truly awful relatives that he avoids by exploring the uncounted corridoors & rooms at the back of the castle. Or the ??? which is mostly about civil servants attempting to retire, but this world's civil servants are of a very different sort from ours - for example, one of them regularly pulls cups of tea out of his pocket in a perfect example of Aiken's matter-of-fact magical realism. This is the perfect book to have handy for when you want a quick dive into a magical world, to resurface with some renewed humor & awareness for the possibilities of magic in your everyday.”

FoxTeeth

Created over 5 years ago