Arabel and Mortimer Stories: Joan Aiken

Arabel and her notorious raven Mortimer make a welcome return to the Puffin nest!

When Arabel`s father, Ebenezer Jones, drives his taxi home late one night he comes across `a large black bird, with a hairy fringe around its beak.` He takes it home and from that moment on, life is never the same again for the Jones family. Arabel`s raven is called Mortimer - and he`s one in a million. `Nevermore!` he cries when astonished or upset, `Down the hatch` he thinks before gobbling bowler hats, stairs, telephones. He dislikes flying except in emergencies, and with disaster-prone Mortimer around there are plenty of those.