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It is nearly thirty years since the nine-lived Enchanter Chrestomanci first exploded on to the children's book scene in A Charmed Life. And here he is in a new novel as a teenager. It is one of the many advantages of Diana Wynne Jones's multiple worlds and time frames that she, and we, can dot about like this without loss of continuity.
Having said that, the Chrestomanci books are not my favourites among her titles; I much prefer the haunting Fire and Hemlock, hilarious Tale of Time City and weird Archer's Goon. But if a Wynne Jones novel disappoints, it does it at a very high level; what ends up in her waste paper basket is better than many celebrated children's writers' published work.
Conrad Tesdinic has been told from an early age that he has bad karma but the person doing the telling is his half-uncle Alfred who øwas a magician in his spare time, so he knew this sort of thing.Ó Conrad and his family live in Series Seven, a collection of worlds where the British Isles have not split off from continental Europe, not that much use is made of that idea in this novel.
He is sent by his uncle to apply for work at Stallery Mansion, where he finds himself footmanning alongside Chrestomanci, who is temporarily known as Christopher Smith. Officially they are called Improvers, footmen-in-training in the hopes of one day becoming Count Robert's valet. Actually Conrad is trying to find out whom he has to kill in order to satisfy his karma, which is connected with magical goings-on up at the Mansion.
It's pointless to recount more of the plot ¨ it spirals off into the baroque fantasy that Wynne Jones' mind produces so effortlessly. It isn't one of her best, not even one of her best Chrestomancis. And it is an odd chubby size. All of Wynne Jones backlist was reissued by HarperCollins in 2000 and is reputed to have sold a million copies since then. A delicious irony then in bookseller Uncle Alfred's constant cry of, øAnd how do I find the money, Conrad, with the book trade so slow?Ó
It's good to know it isn't so for Diana Wynne Jones.
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