Do you watch the film or read the book first?

Howl’s Moving Castle

Author: Diana Wynne Jones

Illustrator: Marie-Alice Harel https://www.maharel.com/ @maharelillo

Published by: The Folio Society @foliosociety

Published on: 2021

Price: £45

First line: In the land of Ingary, where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, it is quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of three.

Genre: Fantasy, Magic

Age: 10+

What’s it all about? For those that know the Studio Gibli film by Hayao Miyazaki, like myself, this is almost a different story entirely, except you will spot some similar characters and the preeminent setting of Howl’s Moving Castle. It is very difficult to summarise the story here as it is long and rambling. However, at a basic level, Sophie wishes to escape her life and her sudden attention by the evil witch of the waste and then finds herself hiding in the mysterious Howl’s Castle. Here she stays, feeling safe and needed by Howl’s rag-tag group: Calcifer the fire demon and young Michael, the wizard’s apprentice.

Why should I read it? This is a classic of the fantasy genre and Diana was described by, no less than Neil Gaiman himself, as ‘Quite simply the best writer of magic there is’. The story may ramble on and on, but there is a beauty and a warmth in the description and the magic is so subtle you feel that the places described could easily be real. I think the book would be difficult to use in class as a whole, however could easily be used to model description writing.

Thank you to the Folio Society for this very special copy of the book, which I won in a Twitter competition!