The Cuckoo Tree

The Cuckoo Tree is a children's novel by Joan Aiken, first published in 1971. Taking place in an alternate history, the story presents the further adventures of Dido Twite, a teenage Victorian tomboy, in southern England. The novel is chronologically the fifth of the Wolves Chronicles, a series of books set in a fictional 19th century in which the Stuart kings had not been ousted by William of Orange; a key plot driver (from Black Hearts in Battersea) is the efforts of "Hanoverians" to overthrow "King James III" and his heirs. The Cuckoo Tree was published before its prequel, The Stolen Lake. 'The Cuckoo Tree' is also a sequel to 'The Whispering Mountain', with Captain Hughes of HMS 'Thrush', (the ship is also mentioned in the Felix series) eventually reunited with his son, Owen, the hero of the previous book, who takes part in the coronation, but is otherwise only briefly mentioned in 'The Cuckoo Tree'.