Books - Charmed Life

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	Books - Charmed Life

Charmed Life is a 1977 novel by British children's author Diana Wynne Jones.

It is the first in the Chrestomanci series of novels, so named because their plots, some to greater degrees than others, 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.

Charmed Life opens with the orphaned Eric and Gwendolen Chant, a brother and sister, being summoned to Chrestomanci's castle. Gwendolen is something of a magical virtuoso, 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 (Christopher Chant, all grown up), they are put in a magic class with his 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.

Cat is thus charged with finding out what his sister is up to as well as protecting Janet, who turns out to be from a magic-free parallel dimension. Gwendolen, meanwhile, has arranged to have Cat sacrificed by a group of dangerous adult sorcerers in order to destroy Chrestomanci's rule. Time is running out, and if the children don't find a way to stop her, the entire structure of the Twelve Related Worlds could collapse into magical anarchy.

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.

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Books - Charmed Life

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