Howl's Moving Castle

By Kathy Monserate
October 25, 2007

After having seen Hayao Miyazaki's latest film Howl's Moving Castle for the first time, I thought it'd be appropriate to take a look at the material on which it was based, the book of the same name written in the late 80's by British author Dianne Wynne Jones.

I wasn't at all disappointed.

Reading the book is like taking a bite out of an ordinary apple and discovering a core of creamy, caramel candy inside. Masquerading as a young adult fantasy, Howl's Moving Castle is a profound book dealing with self-discovery. The story beautifully unfolds as each of the main characters experience a personal transformation.

The story begins with a magical town beset with fearsome wizards and witches. A town where old wives prophecies determine lives and bargains made with demons prolong them. But despite all the magic that surrounds the land, the characters are still painfully human.

Young Sophie, the heroine, finds herself stuck in a hat shop hiding from the world. All her life she believed the prophecy that she was bound to fail in life because she was the eldest of three sisters. So it was far easier for her to accept what came her way than to actually search for her own adventure.

Then, one day, the Wicked Witch of the Waste puts her under a spell, a spell that robs her of her youth and turns her into a 90-year-old crone. Forced to leave everything she knows, Sophie sets on a journey to find a way to free herself from the spell. Along the way, she meets the mysterious Howl, a wizard who lives in a magical moving castle and has garnered a reputation as a horrible ladies' man. Sophie, realizing that Howl could help her, enters the castle and gets a job as an overly eager cleaning lady, much to the consternation of Calcifer (Howl's fire demon) and Michael (Howl's boyish assistant).

What follows is a tour de force of fantasy storytelling. The tale richly features missing princes, magical pyrotechnics, a single door that opens up to four different locations, a bouncing scarecrow that is more than it appears, and, yes, even romance, as Howl and Sophie set out to defeat the Witch of the Waste's evil plans and save a kingdom.

Beautifully set, simply written, and highly entertaining, the novel is perfect for anyone who'd like to dream for a few hours. Except in Howl's Moving Castle, given perseverance and the right circumstances, dreams always find a way of coming true.

Publisher: Eos
Writer: Diana Wynne Jones