Charmed Life
core novel 1977 Chrestomanci
Record
| First published | 1977 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.97 (36,452 ratings, collected 2026-09-14) |
| Page count | 288 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780688155469 |
| Internal chronology | 3 |
Synopsis
The first Chrestomanci novel opens after orphaned siblings Eric, nicknamed Cat, and Gwendolen Chant lose their parents in a boating accident and are summoned to live at Chrestomanci Castle, a residence in a world parallel to our own where magic is openly practiced. Gwendolen, who writes to the current Chrestomanci, a distant relative and the powerful government official charged with overseeing the use of magic across the related worlds, arrives expecting to be recognized as a gifted witch and to receive advanced training, while Cat appears to have no magical talent of his own. When the Chrestomanci and his household, including his wife Millie and their children Julia and Roger, decline to indulge her ambitions, Gwendolen grows resentful and begins a campaign of increasingly reckless and destructive magical mischief throughout the castle, leaving Cat to cope with his sister's volatile behavior and his own uncertain place among the family.
Where it sits
- Universe: Chrestomanci
- Series: Chrestomanci core; position 1 of 7 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Notes
- From the series record (Chrestomanci): Listed in PUBLICATION order (1977-2006); internal chronology records the settled internal/story order instead (1. The Lives of Christopher Chant, 2. Conrad's Fate, 3. Charmed Life, 4. The Pinhoe Egg, 5. Witch Week, 6. The Magicians of Caprona), per HarperCollins' own 'Chronicles of Chrestomanci' recommended-reading-order reissues -- left null for Mixed Magics, a 4-story collection whose individual stories span multiple points in the internal timeline rather than occupying one slot. This is the first universe in this canon to actually populate `internal chronology` for a publication-vs-internal divergence (distinct from other cases in this canon with a genuinely *disputed* chronology -- here the order is well-documented and author-sanctioned, not contested) -- a usable precedent for Valdemar's own still-open equivalent.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Chrestomanci: position 1 of 7: next The Magicians of Caprona (1980)
- Internal chronology, within Chrestomanci: position 3 of 6: previous Conrad's Fate (2005) · next The Pinhoe Egg (2006)
Sources
← Chrestomanci dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.