"The Wolves of Willoughby Chase" is the first book in the "Wolves" Saga by Joan Aiken, a series of books set in an alternative 18th century England in the reign of King James III. In this altered history a large number of wolves migrate from the bitter cold of Europe and Russia into Britain via the Channel Tunnel, and terrorise the inhabitants in their continuing hunting.
The story is set at Willoughby Chase, the grand home of Lord Willoughby and Lady Green and their daughter Bonnie. Due to Lady Green's wasting illness, Bonnie's parents are taking a holiday in warmer climates and leaving her in the care of the Lord's newly-arrived distant cousin Letitia Slighcarp. Also due to arrive is Bonnie's orphan cousin Sylvia who lived in London with Lord Willoughby's poorer sister Aunt Jane, coming to keep her cousin company in her parent's absence. Sylvia is nervous about the train ride into the vast and wolf-ridden countryside, but the cousins become instant friends on her arrival, with an entire life of playing, skating and adventures together.
Yet the blissful life is not to last. In her parent's absence, Mrs Slighcarp takes over the household, dismissing the household servents, wearing Lady Green's gowns, and tampering with Lord Willoughby's legal papers with the help of Mr Grimshaw, the man who was supposedly knocked unconscious on Sylvia's train and taken into the care of Willoughby Chase. Despite the best efforts of James the clever footman, Pattern the girl's beloved maid and Simon, the goose-boy living half wild in the woods, the girl's plans to fetch back their parents goes astray, and Mrs Slighcarp sends them to a dismal orphanage after the news that Bonnie's parents have died.
Bonnie and Sylvia quickly weaken under the strain of the difficult living conditions, and Bonnie realises they must find a way to escape due to Sylvia's worsening health. Hope arrives however in the form of Simon the goose-boy, and together they plot a way to escape and reclaim Bonnie's inheritance...
England