Howl's Moving Castle
Sophie Hatter, the eldest of three sisters and resigned to a quiet life in her father's hat shop, is turned into a ninety-year-old woman by the jealous Witch of the Waste. Unable to tell anyone what has happened, she takes refuge as cleaning woman inside the infamous moving castle of the wizard Howl, a vain heartbreaker whose household includes a fire-demon named Calcifer and a harried apprentice. As Sophie bargains with Calcifer, sidesteps a distant war, and discovers that Howl is both less and more than his reputation, Diana Wynne Jones unspools a fairy tale in which the curse and the romance turn out to be tangled in the same knot.
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What you might want to know about Howl's Moving Castle
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Sophie Hatter, eldest of three and bound by the rules of fairy tales, is cursed by a witch into a ninety-year-old body. She marches into the moving castle of the wizard Howl and lets herself in as his cleaner.
Hayao Miyazaki's 2004 animated film keeps the central characters and broad premise but diverges substantially from the novel, especially in the second half. Diana Wynne Jones publicly praised the adaptation despite the changes.
Diana Wynne Jones wrote three loosely connected Howl novels: Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Air, and House of Many Ways. Each features Howl and Sophie at the edges of a new protagonist's story.
Howl's Moving Castle was written by Diana Wynne Jones, published in 1986 by Eos.
Howl's Moving Castle is 304 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Howl's Moving Castle takes most readers 5 to 7 hours to finish.
Howl's Moving Castle is a standalone novel by Diana Wynne Jones, not part of a series.
Howl's Moving Castle is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
