the wolves of willoughby chase book review

This classic had me gripped to the book, I literally couldn’t get away I fell in love with the setting. My best villain in the story was Miss Slighcarp. Joan Akien’s The Wolves of Willoughby chase is a masterpiece as far as I’m concerned. My favourite part was the ending because it was so funny when Sir Willoughby was angry that his house had turned into a school. Once the action gets going, the adventures and misadventures draw you in, and even as you're not exactly sure why there are so many wolves running around the lavish estate, the wolves do at least ratchet up the tension. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase was the best of the books I have read so far, aged 9 and half. Stephanie Beacham gives the odious Miss Slighcarp the over-the-top performance the character requires, and Mel Smith is comically bumbling as her foolish sidekick Grimshaw. Even the wolves that surround the great house of Willoughby Chase are not as cruel and merciless as governess Miss Slighcarp. Overall, the acting is very good, especially compared to most children's movies. Which isn't to say that this is a bad movie, but it does go out of its way to exaggerate the suspense and general air of bleakness hanging over 19th century England. A pack of wolves runs around the countryside trying to maul every human they see, and there are bleak and brutal scenes of an orphan work house straight out of darkest Dickens, to say nothing of rats, intense chase scenes, and cartoonishly evil bad ladies and men. THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE has enough disturbing gothic imagery to provide younger children with plenty of material for nightmares.

The wolves of willoughby chase book review