House of Many Ways

Overview

The sequel to Howl's Moving Castle

When Charmain Baker agreed to look after her great-uncle's house, she thought she was getting blissful, parent-free time to read. She didn't realize that the house bent space and time, and she did not expect to become responsible for an extremely magical stray dog and a muddled young apprentice wizard. Now, somehow, she's been targeted by a terrifying creature called a lubbock, too, and become central to the king's urgent search for the fabled Elfgift that will save the country. The king is so desperate to find the Elfgift, he's called in an intimidating sorceress named Sophie to help. And where Sophie is, the great Wizard Howl and fire demon Calcifer won't be far behind. How did respectable Charmain end up in such a mess, and how will she get herself out of it?

Editorial Reviews

Longtime fans and new readers alike will revel in Jones's self-assured return to the realm she charted in Howl's Moving Castle, a riff on English and German fairytales, and its Arabian Nights-themed sequel, Castle in the Air. When bookish, utterly selfish Charmain leaves home to care for her ailing great-uncle's magical house, she surprises herself by discovering her own hidden talents-and ends up helping save the kingdom of High Norland from the fearsome Lubbock. Brought up by her doting parents to be utterly "respectable" (which in her case translates to being astonishingly useless), Charmain is an unlikely heroine. Yet she easily holds center stage, even when the flamboyant Wizard Howl (of Moving Castle fame) appears midway through the novel. Beguiling enough on their own, Charmain's big and small adventures (bickering with the boy who comes to stay; attempting housework with hilarious results; mediating the disputes of the disgruntled tiny blue men who work behind the scenes) gain an added urgency thanks to the lurking menace of the Lubbock, who is easily among the scariest villains Jones has ever created. A tale to luxuriate in. Ages 12-up. (June)

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Author Information

Bio of Diana Wynne Jones

Diana Wynne Jones was born in London in 1934. She grew up amidst the destruction of World War II, and as a result her family moved around a lot as she was growing up, before finally settlign in Essex. Not being able to get many books, Jones and her sister made up their own stories, and though Jones was dyslexic, she wrote down her stories anyway. Between the ages of 12 and 14 she filled more than twenty notebooks with two stories. In 1953, Jones began school at St. Anne's College Oxford and attended lectures by J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. After graduation, Jones continued to write, creating plays for children that were performed at the London Arts Theatre. Her first book was published in 1973, and in 1977, her book Charmed Life won the Guardian Award for Children's Books. She was twice runner up for the Carnegie Medal and in 1999 won the Mythopeic Award and the Karl Edward Wagner Award. 030

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Additional Info

Imprint

HarperCollins e-books

Filesize

744.69 KB

Number of Pages

404

eBook ISBN

9780061861383