Charmed Life (novel)
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| Charmed Life | |
 Cover of Charmed Life |
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| Author | Diana Wynne Jones |
|---|---|
| Country | Great Britain |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Chrestomanci Series |
| Genre(s) | Children's, Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Macmillan |
| Publication date | 1977 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 216 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0333214269 |
Charmed Life is a 1977 novel by British children's author Diana Wynne Jones. It was the first book in the Chrestomanci series of novels to be written. The series name comes from the way the plots involve a series of powerful nine-lived enchanters who carry the title Chrestomanci. Carriers of the title are essentially government administrators who supervise the use of magic on Earth.
[edit] Plot summary
Charmed Life opens with the orphaned brother and sister, Eric and Gwendolen Chant, being summoned to Chrestomanci Castle after Gwendolen writes a letter to the current Chrestomanci, a distant relative, presumably begging him to take them in. Gwendolen is something of a magical virtuoso, spoiled by neighbors (and her parents when they were alive), but her brother Eric (nicknamed Cat) is rather a slouch in that department, preferring to play the violin (at which he is also lamentably mediocre). Upon arriving at the castle, which is maintained by the suave and charming but always authoritative Chrestomanci, they are taught by a private tutor in a small class with Chrestomanci's two children Julia and Roger. Unfortunately, Julia and Gwendolen immediately butt heads, and Cat appears to have no magical skill at all. Gwendolen is also furious that she is expected to start her magical training at an elementary level again. She takes out her anger on Chrestomanci in increasingly complex ways, eventually leading to the removal of her magic powers. But the next morning, Gwendolen is gone, leaving a clueless lookalike named Janet in her place.
Janet (from our own world, or one very like it; the "worlds" in the stories are parallel universes) and Cat try to conceal the substitution, while at the same time dealing with various messes Gwendolen has left. Despite Cat thinking he is not magically talented, the shrewd Janet realizes from various hints, upon seeing a book of matches with many gone, that Cat, like Chrestomanci, is a nine-lived enchanter. This is confirmed when Cat strikes one of the matches, and is immediately enveloped in flames. It develops that Gwendolen has been able to use Cat's magic without his knowledge. Things culminate with Gwendolen's return, leading an army of disaffected minor magical practitioners against Chrestomanci, who is responsible for the proper use of magic in the country. Things look bad until Cat is finally able to take his powers for his own and aid Chrestomanci in defeating their opponents. Gwendolen is able to use the last of what magic she can lay her hands on to return to her new world where she has been queen, sealing herself permanently in that world and causing Janet to return. It develops that Chrestomanci and his aides had been monitoring the children all along, were fully aware of the Gwendolen/Janet switch and wanted to know whether Cat had been a willing ally of Gwendolen all along (which he had not). Janet will remain as a ward of Chrestomanci, who will aid Cat in developing his powers to become the next Chrestomanci (which is the name of the position, not the individual).
[edit] Characters
The character of Christopher Chant (the Chrestomanci in this novel) appears as a young boy in The Lives of Christopher Chant and as a teenager in Conrad's Fate.
Eric Emelius "Cat" Chant: Cat is the protagonist of the novel. He is a kind boy, but he follows others a bit more than he should. His sister, Gwendolen, technically rules him. He loves playing the violin, despite being quite terrible at it and also suffers from chronic car-sickness. He has three of his nine lives remaining, having lost his first life when he only just survived being born, his second when Gwendolen had put his lives into a book of matches, the third when he drowned in the flood that killed his parents, the fourth when Gwendolen used it to turn his fiddle into a cat (which he kept as a pet and named Fiddle), the fifth when Gwendolen used it to take her into her new world where she reigned as queen, and the sixth when he burned a match himself in an attempt to prove Janet wrong. The matchbox is his main weakness. Cat is training to be the next Chrestomanci.
Gwendolen Chant: She is the main antagonist of the novel. She is a powerful witch, although it is possible she did not have any witchcraft of her own in the first place and only borrowed magic from Cat. She likes to play "pranks" on people. Although she was very motherly to Cat in the past, she became nastier and bossier to him as the story progressed.When the steam boat crashed, she survived because she was a witch, and could not drown. Cat had believed he had survived the flood by holding on to Gwendolen. She contained a mixture of admiration and hatred for Chrestomanci, partly because he had such powerful magic, and partly because he had supposedly not recognized her prowess.
Janet Chant: Janet is the other world equivalent of Gwendolen. She had lived in a nice, ordinary home in a world similar to ours. While Gwendolen was bossy and bold, Janet was quite shy and jolly. No one was to know that Gwendolen had spirited away to another world, so Cat and Janet had to pretend Janet was Gwendolen. When they were trying to keep it a secret, it is later revealed that Chrestomanci had known about it all along. She later decides to stay in Cat's world and becomes Chrestomanci's ward.
Julia Chant: Julia is one of Chrestomanci's two children. She is quite fat, and is normally quite nice, but can also be mean. Julia's magic seems to centre on a handkerchief. Whenever Gwendolen played a trick on her, Julia countered the attack by tying a knot in her handkerchief. However, her magic is lesser than Cat's, she had turned Janet (thinking she was Gwendolen)'s food into bugs, but when Cat traded bowls with Janet, the bugs changed back to food, resulting in a very confused Cat and an infuriated Julia.
Roger Chant: Roger is Julia's brother and the other child of Chrestomanci. He seems to be laid back and not as hot-tempered as his sister. Roger is more inclined to cooperate with Cat and to entertain him. He likes to play toy soldiers with Cat, but Cat wasn't a very good player, because his soldiers kept running away.
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