Title: Charmed Life Author: Diana Wynne Jones Genre: Fantasy/ YA Publisher: HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks Publication Date: May 2009 (first edition: 1977) Paperback: 288 pages Stand alone or series: First book in the Chrestomanci series (7 books) but can be read as stand alone. Every saga has a beginning. Every journey has a first step…And so it is with the magical “Worlds of Chrestomanci” which English fantasy author Diana Wynne Jones began so many years ago with her own episode one–Charmed Life. Winner of the Guardian Award for Children’s Books, Charmed Life has been a favourite escape to parallel fantastical worlds since 1977, and remains refreshingly captivating and reassuringly addictive in its latest paperback edition with a wonderful new jacket illustration. The adventure begins in a strange and not-quite contemporary England that is still peppered with paddle steamers, horse-drawn carriages and girls wearing petticoats. Orphans Eric Chant (nicknamed Cat) and his sister Gwendolen, a gifted witch, are whisked away to live in a castle with Chrestromanci, a much-revered man of magic, wealth and mysterious ways. Their new life is full of the surreal and unexpected, and there are several crazy new rules to master–not least by Gwendolen who must learn to channel her […]
