posted on 23 Apr 2020

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, illustrated by Marie-Alice Harel

The informative introduction to this beautiful Folio Society edition of this novel is by Marcus Sedgwick who prepares the reader for the extraordinary writing style and gives some very interesting context.  Diana Wynne Jones was apparently Oxford University educated at around the same time as other reputable children’s authors like Alan Garner, Jill Paton –Walsh and Susan Cooper. Sedgwick quotes Cooper who suggests that all were undoubtedly influenced by being immersed in an English syllabus that had been selected by J.R.R.Tolkein with support from C.S Lewis. Both these academics made sure that their students digested plenty of Anglo Saxon, Old Norse and Middle English literature. She suggests that this background is significant in understanding the confidence that authors like Wynne Jones showed in creating such believable fantasy worlds:

‘As for the 20th century, it might never have arrived. As a friend of mine said, “They taught us to believe in dragons.”’

The overall design of this book, first published in 1986, is a sumptuous feast that I relished every time I settled down to read. The front cover gives a flavour of the fairy tale atmosphere created by the huge castle that moves magically from place to place watched over by a hunched old woman and the back cover is completely covered by a delicate spider’s web and some wild flowers - intriguing. The end papers show a hilly landscape densely covered with star-like flowers that reflect those in the night sky above. The only visible figure is a rudimentary scarecrow to the right – all details that turn out to be significant to the story that unfolds.

 I also liked the way in which each chapter is headed by a black and white drawing of an archway that frames a relevant symbol to be further explored in the text. But it is the six coloured illustrations that really add to the special magic of the story. They rather reminded me of the jewel like paintings by Edmund Dulac that illustrated traditional fairy tales like ‘The Sleeping Beauty’. 

Let me describe one in particular that I looked at for a long time.  This shows Sophie, the heroine of the story, who works in the family hat shop, sitting beside the window as she sews the trimming onto a pink hat. She gazes out of the window into the luminously colourful world that is passing her by and it conveys her longing to escape from what seems to be a dull, repetitive life. The table in front of her shows reels of cotton and pins, many reels of ribbons hang above her head and we also have a glimpse of the various hats she has already worked on to the side. Almost half of the picture is dominated by a heavily patterned deep blue curtain that is pulled across to allow us to see her in this intimate pose.

What follows is a complicated tale about how Sophie is able to leave that safe, predictable life behind, but in doing so, she is transformed by magic into an ancient crone which allows her to move through the world in a very different way. She eventually finds her way to one of the doors in the infamous castle inhabited by Wizard Howl, vividly described as ‘far too tall for its height’.

 Plenty more magic happens as she spends time living in the castle getting to know Wizard Howl and his strange companions. There are encounters with impressive spells, fire demons, witch’s curses and enchantments which, if I am honest, I found to be sometimes difficult to follow.  

I had the same problem with the Harry Potter series of books so perhaps I am not a natural fantasy fan. On the other hand – I did love some of the episodes that were beautifully written. The terrifying energy of the castle as it lurches through the countryside at breakneck speed reminded me of Dorothy being whipped up into the sky in The Wizard of Oz:

‘ Green steepness, rocks and purple slopes whirled past, making her feel dizzy, but she took a grip on the door frame and leaned out to look along the wall to the moorland they were leaving behind’.  

And how about the description of a terrifying fight between Howl and the Witch:

‘… the clot of magic took on the shape of a misty bundle of fighting snakes. Then it tore in two with a noise like an enormous cat fight. One part sped yowling across the roofs and out to sea, and the second went screaming after it’.      

 Plenty of people have recommended the 2004 animated film interpretation of the story by Hayao Misazaki, and I can see how it would translate very well  because the story is so visual. I am very glad that I have read it in this beautiful format and will finish with an appropriate accolade from Marcus Sedgwick;

‘Howl’s Moving Castle is a wonderful creation. It’s full of life, it’s funny, it’s gleefully inventive, it’s wise about the ways of people, about love and jealousy and gender in general’.

Read and enjoy an escape into a strange but compelling world.

Karen Argent

April 2020

(Click on any image to view them in a slide show format)