The Magicians of Caprona
core novel 1980 Chrestomanci
Record
| First published | 1980 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.92 (13,858 ratings, collected 2026-09-14) |
| Page count | 288 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780007106547 |
| Internal chronology | 6 |
Synopsis
Set in Caprona, an independent Italian city-state within a parallel magical world, the second Chrestomanci novel follows young Tonino Montana, a shy boy absorbed in books who is slower than his siblings to show obvious magical skill, and his more outgoing brother Paolo. Their family, Casa Montana, has feuded for generations with the rival spell-making family Casa Petrocchi, each blaming the other whenever misfortune strikes the city. As Caprona's protective magic weakens and the neighboring states of Florence, Pisa and Siena threaten conquest, it becomes clear that only the true, original words of an ancient spell tied to the Angel of Caprona can restore the city's strength. Tonino finds himself drawn into danger involving members of the Petrocchi family, including Angelica and Renata, forcing feuding rivals into uneasy cooperation as they search for the lost words that both houses have long since forgotten or corrupted.
Where it sits
- Universe: Chrestomanci
- Series: Chrestomanci core; position 2 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 2 of 7: previous Charmed Life (1977) · next Witch Week (1982)
- Internal chronology, within Chrestomanci: position 6 of 6: previous Witch Week (1982)
Sources
← Chrestomanci dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.