If you like Harry Potter, you'll love Dido Twite - Rated 
Dido Twite, the quick-witted (and sharp-tongued) heroine of Black Hearts in Battersea and Nightbirds on Nantucket, is back in this sequel. During the mythical reign of Britain's King George IV, the ship carrying 12-year-old Dido from New England back to (old) England is ordered to stop off in New Cumbria, a mysterious South American nation ruled by a suspiciously ancient queen. Is she, as she claims, the widow of King Arthur? If so, how has she managed to survive the centuries? And why aren't there any girls Dido's age in the entire country? For that matter, why did the midshipman of Dido's vessel take ill as soon as they arrived in port? With the same entertaining blend of Cockney common sense and sheer gutsiness that saw her through her earlier adventures, Dido manages to get to the bottom of things--saving an imprisoned princess and, yes, restoring a "stolen" lake in the bargain. All in all, a fun, fast, rollicking read for youngsters and adults alike.
Dido at her best - Rated 
I inherited this book when I was younger, never read past the first page and it remained on a dusty bookself for years. One night I picked it up again after running out of books to read and forced myself to read further.
I may not have been interested before as this is part of a sequence (Wolves of Willoughby Chase being the first book) but once I began to read more about the heroine, Dido Twite, I was enthralled. This book features such a myriad of ideas that run through all of the WoWC stories. Once I'd read this book I then bought the complete set of books. A treat.
Great fun and truly imaginative - Rated
As a new mum with limited time and concentration, I have been rereading all my childhood favourites. I'm a great fan of Joan Aiken and of all the Dido Twite adventures, this is the one I most enjoyed.
Dido is a great heroine - despite the most villainous, neglectful parents, she's resourceful, loyal and happily unconcerned with her looks. In the Stolen Lake she has to deal with the usual collection of crooks, conspirators and a brilliantly grotesque Queen who has been waiting for her husband to return from the dead for centuries and has been keeping herself alive in rather an unpleasant manner...
I'd recommend any Joan Aiken book, they're all fun and pacey and the baddies tend to get their come-uppance in the most imaginative ways.
Happy Childhood Memories - Rated
Joan Aiken is a writer I ALWAYS reccommend to children (and being a teacher I'm in a good position to do so!). Her books are endlessly imaginitive and contain brilliantly drawn Dickensian characters. THE STOLEN LAKE is a particular favourite of mine from childhood and Dido Twite is an absolutely fantastic heroine - cheeky, intrepid, loyal and brave.
I cannot reccommend this book enough, as well as all the others in the sequence. I read these books as a child and adored them and am very glad to see they are still in print.
I would like to echo the sentiments of the previous review, J K Rowling has nothing on Aiken!
Why aren't there dozens of five stars? - Rated
I can't believe no-one has written a review of this wonderful book before this. This, as Dido Twite might say, is monstrous good. As a professional writer, I stand open-mouthed and slack-jawed before Joan Aiken's talent. This is as good as writing gets. Her wizardry with language, the sheer scale and vividness of her imagination, and her ability to construct plots and characters simply dazzle. All the Wolves of Willoughby Chase books are great, but this one is a scorcher. If you're a Dido Twite fan (and who couldn't be?), you'll find her in top form here. Aiken takes the most disparate elements (Brazil, Celtic lore, Arthurian legend, a monstrous Guinevere transformed into fat evil Queen Ginevra, a wandering wise man, Aurocs, volcanos, smatterings of Latin, a stolen lake, and, of course, the indomitable Dido and weaves them into a seamless story that never ceases to amaze. If you haven't read the earlier books (start with Black Hearts in Battersea), order them as well, then order all the later ones. J.K. Rowling must hang her head in shame every time she hears Aiken's name. This is how books for children and adults are written. A classic series with one of the great characters in English fiction. Croopus!
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