Stage Magic: Four Plays and a Screenplay
play-collection · First published 2024
Author guide
Diana Wynne Jones Books in Order
Diana Wynne Jones (1934–2011) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, playwright, and essayist. Her work spans children's and young-adult fantasy, adult fantasy, science fiction, humorous nonfiction, literary criticism, poetry, and drama. Her major series include Chrestomanci, Dalemark, the Moving Castle books, the Magids books, and the Derkholm books. The posthumously published The Islands of Chaldea was completed by her sister Ursula Jones.
fantasyscience fictionchildren's literatureyoung adultnonfictionpoetrydrama
Catalog record updated .
Diana Wynne Jones's Newest Book
Not sure where to begin?
Start with one of these
Charmed Life
Diana Wynne Jones recommended beginning the Chrestomanci books with Charmed Life.
The Lives of Christopher Chant
Diana Wynne Jones recommended reading The Lives of Christopher Chant second, after Charmed Life.
Read in order
Books by series
series · completed
Chrestomanci
A series of interconnected fantasy novels and short-story collections concerning the enchanter Chrestomanci and parallel worlds.
- 1 Charmed Life
Book 1 · novel · 1977
An elegant stranger appears on seedy Coven Street and collects the two Chant orphans -- Gwendolen, a powerful young witch, and Cat, her brother. The stranger, known as "Chrestomanci," delivers the children to the grandeur of Chrestomanci…
- 3 The Magicians of Caprona
Book 2 · novel · 1980 Optional
Chrestomanci Book 2 Tonino is the only person in the famous Montana household who wasn't born with an instinct for creating spells, but he has other gifts. His ability to communicate with cats just might help defend the city of Caprona…
- 4 Witch Week
Book 3 · novel · 1982 Optional
When a teacher at an English boarding school finds a note on his desk accusing someone in the class of being a witch, magical things begin to happen and an Inquisitor is summoned.
- 2 The Lives of Christopher Chant
Book 4 · novel · 1988
PerfectBound e-book exclusive extras: "Diana Wynne Jones's The Chronicles of Chrestomanci: Nine Notes"; and our exclusive interview with Diana Wynne Jones.His father and uncles are enchanters, his mother a powerful sorceress, yet nothing…
- 5 Mixed Magics: Four Tales of Chrestomanci
Book 5 · short-story-collection · 2000 Optional
- 6 Conrad's Fate
Book 6 · novel · 2005 Optional
Chrestomanci #5 When his uncle sends him to work at the mysterious Stallery Mansion, twelve-year-old Conrad Tesdinic overcomes his bad karma and discovers in the mansion's winecellar the source of the magic that threatens to pull his…
- 7 The Pinhoe Egg
Book 7 · novel · 2006 Optional
Cat Chant and Marianne Pinhoe have discovered something incredibly exciting, truly precious, and very strange — an egg.This egg was not meant to be found. Chrestomanci himself, Cat's guardian and the strongest enchanter in the world, is…
series · completed
Dalemark Quartet
A four-book fantasy sequence set in the country of Dalemark across different historical periods.
- 1 Cart and Cwidder
Book 1 · novel · 1975
Cart and Cwidder is the first in the best-selling Dalemark Quartet of books and tells the story of Moril and his brother and sister who are travelling musicians journeying through Dalemark, until one day they pick up a mysterious…
- 2 Drowned Ammet
Book 2 · novel · 1977
When his protest against the tyrannical government fails, a young boy escapes, with two other children, to the mysterious Holy Islands where they learn the identity and the power of two folk figures celebrated by their countrymen.
- 3 The Spellcoats
Book 3 · novel · 1979
Tanqui discovers she has the only means to conquer the evil Kankredin who threatens her own people and the Heathens who have invaded prehistoric Dalemark.
- 4 The Crown of Dalemark
Book 4 · novel · 1993
The Countess and Lord Keril send Mitt to kill a young woman Noreth Onesdaughter, who claims to know where the lost crown is hidden.
series · completed
Moving Castle
A fantasy sequence set primarily in the world of Ingary and centered on Howl, Sophie, and their associates.
- 1 Howl's Moving Castle
Book 1 · novel · 1986
This entrancing classic fantasy novel is filled with surprises at every turn. An international bestseller, this much-loved book is the source for the Academy Award nominee for Best Animated Feature. Sophie has the great misfortune of…
- 2 Castle in the Air
Book 2 · novel · 1990
Far to the south of the land of Ingary, in the Sultanates of Rashpuht, there lived in the city of Zanzib a young and not very prosperous carpet dealer named Abdullah who loved to spend his time daydreaming. He was content with his life…
- 3 House of Many Ways
Book 3 · novel · 2008
Charmain Baker is in over her head. Looking after Great-Uncle William's tiny cottage while he's ill should have been easy. But Great-Uncle William is better known as the Royal Wizard Norland, and his house bends space and time. Its single…
series · completed
Magids
A short fantasy sequence about Magids, agents responsible for guiding the development of worlds.
- 1 Deep Secret
Book 1 · novel · 1997
Rupert Venables is a Magid. It's a Magid's job to oversee what goes on in the vast Multiverse. Actually, Rupert is really only a junior Magid. But he's got a king-sized problem. Rupert's territory includes Earth and the Empire of…
- 2 The Merlin Conspiracy
Book 2 · novel · 2003
Roddy and Nick, two teenagers with magical powers they are just learning to use, find that they must work together to save Roddy's home world of Blest from destruction by power-hungry wizards.
series · completed
Derkholm
A comic fantasy sequence about the inhabitants of a world exploited by organized fantasy tours.
- 1 Dark Lord of Derkholm
Book 1 · novel · 1998
Derk, an unconventional wizard, and his magical family become involved in a plan to put a stop to the devastating tours of their world arranged by the tyrannical Mr. Chesney.
- 2 Year of the Griffin
Book 2 · novel · 2000
Elda, the griffin daughter of the great Wizard Derk, arrives for schooling at the Wizards' University where she encounters new friends, pirates, assassins, worry, sabotage, bloodshed, and magic misused.
Outside the series
Bibliography by category
Novels (20)
- Changeover
novel · 1970
- Wilkins' Tooth
novel · 1973
Children's novel of revenge and magic, first published in 1973. The author's first children's book. Published in the US as *Witch's Business* (& available to borrow under this title). Frank and Jess's plan to earn money by undertaking to…
- The Ogre Downstairs
novel · 1974
When a disagreeable man with two boys marries a widow with three children, family adjustments are complicated by two magic chemistry sets which cause strange things to happen around the house.
- Eight Days of Luke
novel · 1975
A teenage boy learns that his new friend possesses supernatural powers, and as they encounter a series of mysterious people, he discovers his friend's true origins.
- Dogsbody
novel · 1975
The Dog Star, Sirius, is tried for murder by his heavenly peers and found guilty. His sentence: to be reborn on Earth as a dog until such time as he carries out the seemingly impossible mission imposed on him. In his Earth guise, Sirius,…
- Power of Three
novel · 1976
Ayna could predict the future. Cari could find what was lost. Gair thought he was ordinary. The three children of Gest, the chief of Garholt, know the perils of the Moor on which they live. The Dorig, their people's enemies, are…
- The Homeward Bounders
novel · 1981
Once he becomes a pawn in a game played by a powerful group he calls them, 12-year-old Jamie is repeatedly catapulted through space and time.
- The Time of the Ghost
novel · 1981
From Publishers Weekly Published in Great Britain in 1981 and available here for the first time, this gripping novel serves up often giddily hilarious fantasy that nonetheless deals unflinchingly with some ugly issues. At least twice in…
- Archer's Goon
novel · 1984
After the Goon moves into the Sykes' house and refuses to budge, thirteen-year-old Howard learns some startling information about his family, including the fact that he is adopted and that his father is connected with the seven wizards…
- The Skiver's Guide
nonfiction · 1984
- Fire and Hemlock
novel · 1984
Polly has two sets of memories... One is normal: school, home, friends. The other, stranger memories begin nine years ago, when she was ten and gate-crashed an odd funeral in the mansion near her grandmother's house. Polly's just…
- A Tale of Time City
novel · 1987
Time City — built far in the future on a patch of space outside time — holds the formidable task of overseeing history, yet it's starting to decay, crumble .... What does that say for the future of the world ... for the past ... for the…
- Black Maria
novel · 1991
On the surface, Aunt Maria seems like a cuddly old lady, all chit-chat and lace doilies and unadulterated NICEness! When Mig and her family go for a short visit, they soon learn that Aunt Maria rules the place with a rod of sweetness…
- A Sudden Wild Magic
novel · 1992
An adventurous group of good witches embarks on a perilous mission to save the earth from attack by an evil predator bent on stealing the planet's ideas, innovations, and technologies.
- Hexwood
novel · 1993
On another world entirely, a harassed Sector Controller gets a letter from a maintenance team apparently trapped in Hexwood. A small boy called Hume encounters a robot and a dragon there. Ann Stavely, lying in bed with a virus in her…
- The Tough Guide to Fantasyland
nonfiction · 1996
Imagine that all fantasy novels—the ones featuring dragons, knights, wizards, and magic—are set in the same place. That place is called Fantasyland. The Tough Guide to Fantasyland is your travel guide, a handbook to everything you might…
- The Game
novel · 2007
Hayley’s parents disappeared when she was a baby. Since then, she has been raised and homeschooled by her grandparents. Grandad is overworked and travels a lot; Grandma is much too strict and never lets her meet any children her own age.…
- Enchanted Glass
novel · 2010
After his grandfather dies, Andrew Hope inherits a house and surrounding land in an English village, but things become very complicated when young orphan Aidan shows up and suddenly a host of variously magical townsfolk and interlopers…
- Earwig and the Witch
novel · 2011
Although an orphan, Earwig has always enjoyed living at St. Morwald's, where she manages to make everyone do her bidding, but when she is taken in by a foster parents who are actually a witch and a demon, she has a hard time trying to…
- The Islands of Chaldea
novel · 2014
Aileen's family of magic makers includes Aunt Beck, the most powerful magician on Skarr, but her own magic does not show itself until a mission for the King and a magical cat help her find strength and confidence. Aileen's magic has yet…
Short fiction (6)
- Warlock at the Wheel and Other Stories
short-story-collection · 1984
A collection of humorous and light-hearted stories, most of which feature children who achieve justice for themselves and others, often using the power of magic. Includes two short stories set in the worlds of Chrestomanci, "Warlock at…
- Stopping for a Spell: Three Fantasies
short-story-collection · 1993
Includes three separate stories: "Chair Person," "The Four Grannies," and "Who Got Rid of Angus Flint?".
- Everard's Ride
short-story-collection · 1995
- Minor Arcana
short-story-collection · 1996
- Unexpected Magic: Collected Stories
short-story-collection · 2002
Master storyteller Diana Wynne Jones presents ariveting collection of unpredictable tales, including: -A cat tells how the kindhearted wizard she owns is suddenly called upon to defeat a horrific Beast. -When Anne has mumps, her drawings…
- Enna Hittims
short-story · 2006
Essays and speeches (1)
- Reflections: On the Magic of Writing
essay-collection · 2012
"This collection of more than twenty-five critical essays, speeches, and biographical pieces written and/or chosen by Diana Wynne Jones will be required reading for the author's many fans and for students and teachers of the genre.…
Children's books (6)
- Who Got Rid of Angus Flint?
picture-book · 1978
- The Four Grannies
picture-book · 1980
- Chair Person
picture-book · 1989
- Wild Robert
picture-book · 1989
While trying to get away from the tourists visiting the stately home where her parents are caretakers, Heather accidentally summons a mischievous 350-year-old youth with magical powers and nothing is ever the same again.
- Yes, Dear
picture-book · 1992
Of all her family, only Grandmother understands, or even has time for, Kay's story of catching a magical golden leaf, the kind that makes sand pies--and dreams--real, because she had caught one too when she was young.
- Puss in Boots
picture-book · 1999
Poetry (1)
- Poems
poetry-collection · 2019
Plays (5)
- Stage Magic: Four Plays and a Screenplay
play-collection · 2024
- The Batterpool Business
play · 1968
- The King's Things
play · 1970
- The Terrible Fisk Machine
play · 1972
- The Princess in the Sea
play · 2024
Frequently asked questions about Diana Wynne Jones
Who was Diana Wynne Jones?
Diana Wynne Jones (1934–2011) was a British fantasy and science-fiction author who wrote primarily for younger readers. Born in London, she studied English at St Anne’s College, Oxford, and later received an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Bristol.
Sources: theguardian.com (opens in a new tab)bristol.ac.uk (opens in a new tab)
How did Diana Wynne Jones begin her writing career?
She began as a playwright, with three plays produced in London between 1967 and 1970, and published her first novel, Changeover, in 1970. Her later fiction was written mainly for younger readers.
Who influenced Diana Wynne Jones as a writer?
At Oxford, she attended lectures by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien and later said both had a significant influence on her writing. The University of Bristol also notes that reading The Lord of the Rings helped convince her that a full-length fantasy novel was possible.
Sources: dianawynnejones.com (opens in a new tab)bristol.ac.uk (opens in a new tab)
What awards did Diana Wynne Jones win?
Her honors included the 1978 Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize for Charmed Life, three Carnegie commendations, and the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2007.
Sources: theguardian.com (opens in a new tab)theguardian.com (opens in a new tab)worldfantasy.org (opens in a new tab)
What is Diana Wynne Jones’s legacy?
She is recognized as an early explorer of alternative or parallel universes in children’s fiction, using carefully defined magical rules to address human problems. Her legacy also includes Hayao Miyazaki’s 2004 film adaptation of Howl’s Moving Castle and the preservation of her literary legacy at Seven Stories.
Sources: bristol.ac.uk (opens in a new tab)dianawynnejones.com (opens in a new tab)