Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones

Miss Larkins opened her mouth, and quite a different voice came out. It was a man's voice, brisk and kindly. "You've taken a weight off my mind, lad," it said. It sounded pleased. "There'll be a big change coming up for you now. But you've been awfully careless - four gone already, and only five left. You must take more care. You're in a danger from at least two directions, did you know?"

Ever since Antti and Moira reminded me of Charmed Life by Diane Wynne Jones (translated as Noidan veli), I've wanted to read it again. I picked up the book yesterday from Ottakars, and read it today - light and fun to read. I must have read the book quite a few times when I was a kid since I remembered it almost to a letter. I think that if I had know at that time that it was only the first book in a series, I would have learned to read books in English a lot sooner.

Anyway, for those who haven't read it (and I'd suggest that you fix this immediately), it's about a boy called Cat whose sister Gwendoline is a witch, and events that unfold when a mysterious man called Chrestomanci takes them to live with him after their parents die in an accident. The ideas are truly original in this book - it's beautifully written (although this edition has some weird spelling mistakes), and although it's aimed for children it's easily intelligent enough to entertain adults. I'll be picking up rest of the books in the series too - now that I know it didn't end there I can't wait to see what happens.

Posted by kolibri at 27 June 18:05, 2004