This is the first of Aiken's adult fare that I have tried, and I'm not sure what to think of it. Sixteen-year-old Pandora Crumbe's mother dies suddenly when visiting friends, and the Morningquest clan immediately unofficially adopts her. Pandora welcomes their attention, so different from her taciturn mother and busy, almost non-existent father, and is also intrigued by the mystery of how her simple mother came to know the wealthy, talented, and quirky upper-crust family. The story takes us through Pandora's maturation and life, as well as that of the Morningquest children, and although in the beginning the writing has a Mary Stewart-like atmosphere, it quickly wanders off into its own bizarre convoluted path. Strange as it sometimes became, I somehow felt compelled throughout to keep reading, and it remained intriguing for the most part, though the end fell a little bit flat for me. Aiken's sense of the absurd which permeates most of her children's books is here transformed into mere peculiarity, and I was left feeling like one does sometimes about a piece of abstract art - as though there was some hidden meaning that I was missing, even though the work itself was pleasing enough.
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