Despite the inconveniences of the building--steep staircases, no central heating, ancient plumbing, and insufficient lighting--it was a place that would inspire a young writer.
Aiken's early memories of her father were shadowy, and when she was young, he left the family, later deciding to divorce her mother. The divorce caused a family crisis. Her mother was Canadian, and would now be alone in a foreign country trying to raise three children. Instead, she decided to marry her husband's best friend, Martin Armstrong, and settle down in a small village in a house called Farrs. Armstrong made it clear that he was not the fatherly type; Aiken's older siblings were then sent to boarding schools that did not suit them. Aiken had lost a father and her mother was becoming distant also.
Because she was the youngest child, Aiken was schooled at home "because of lack of money," she told Catherine Courtney in an interview for Authors and Artists for Young Adults (AAYA). "When she and my father divorced, he never sent us any money because he was only just making a living as poet.
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