The Whispering Mountain by Joan Aiken

This was an interesting little fantasy novel. I enjoyed it, and somehow it had the feel of a classic, but I'm not quite sure what to make of it. It was set, I believe, in the early 19th century--the date was never made quite clear, and as one review described it, it is "unhistorical," so a sot of it doesn't make sense for 19th-century Wales anyway. I suppose I should say I quite liked the plot, the stolen harp and the strange groups of characters running about and meeting up in new configurations trying to find it, but the peripheral aspects seemed a bit off. It was quite silly, but didn't always seem to be aware of its own silliness. And then the ending, which I won't reveal but is decidedly not silly, rather threw me off. Oh, and the villain reminded me quite strongly of Voldemort. I wonder if J. K. Rowling's read this.