Charmed Life (novel)

Plot Summary

When the Chant children, Gwendolen and Eric "Cat," are orphaned after their parents die in a boating accident, Gwendolen petitions Chrestomanci let them live at Chrestomanci Castle where she can further her magical training under the tutelage of the world's most powerful enchanter. But when Chrestomanci fails to express interest or awe in her skill, spoiled Gwendolen devises a series of nasty tricks that result in Chrestomanci's removal of her magic. The next morning, Gwendolen has disappeared and a confused lookalike named Janet has taken her place.

Working to hide Gwendolen's disappearance, Cat and Janet are forced to contend with many complications Gwendolen left in her wake, and Cat must come to terms with his sister's abandonment and his denial of her exploitive nature. Adapting to her new and unexpected environment, Janet quickly realizes the scope of Gwendolen's cruelty when she discovers a book of nine matches, five of which are already burnt. When Cat foolishly strikes a match and finds himself engulfed by flames, Janet's suspicions are confirmed: Cat, who has always believed himself utterly lacking in magical ability, is actually a nine-lived enchanter and is thus destined to one day take over the office of Chrestomanci, and Gwendolen has been leeching Cat's magic and wasting his lives to fuel her own magic!

When Gwendolen returns with a group of fellow magical insurgents intent on destroying Chrestomanci, Eris must face his sister and reclaim his powers to save himself and his friends.

Characters

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.

Eric Emelius "Cat" Chant

The protagonist of the novel. Cat is a young boy, who is sent to live at Chrestomanci Castle after a steamboat accident causes his parents (Francis and Caroline Chant) to drown. He originally appears to have no magic and indeed holds this notion himself. As Charmed Life progresses it is revealed that Cat is actually an immensely powerful enchanter with nine lives. Unbeknownst to Cat, his sister Gwendolen constantly uses and abuses Cat's magic. He only has three lives remaining, having lost his first life when he only just survived being born, his second when Gwendolen had put his lives into a book of matches (to make them easier for her to use), the third when he drowned in the boating accident that killed his parents, the fourth when Gwendolen used it to turn his fiddle into a cat (which he kept as a pet and named Fiddle), the fifth when Gwendolen used it to take her into her new world where she reigned as queen, and the sixth when he burned a match from his 'life book' of matches in an attempt to prove that he didn't have nine lives and the matches weren't connected to him. This matchbox is his main weakness.

Gwendolen Chant

The main antagonist of the novel. Like Cat, she survived the boating accident which killed their parents. Cat believed that Gwendolen could not drown because she was a witch, and that he had only survived by clinging to her (he did not realise that he had in fact drowned). She appears to be a gifted witch, although one who uses magic for selfish and dark purposes. It is eventually revealed that she did not have powerful witchcraft of her own, but borrowed substantial amounts of magic from Cat. Although she was very motherly to Cat in the past, she becomes nastier and bossier to him as the story progresses. Gwendolen is extremely ambitious and has master plans to be Queen or to rule the world. Gwendolen greatly dislikes the current Chrestomanci, because he refused to acknowledge her powers and also denied her further witchcraft education.

Janet Chant

Gwendolen's counterpart from another world. Before being pulled into World Twelve A, she had lived in a nice, ordinary home in a world similar to ours. While Gwendolen was bossy and bold, Janet was quite shy and jolly. No one was to know that Gwendolen had spirited away to another world, so Cat and Janet had to pretend Janet was Gwendolen. When they were trying to keep it a secret, it is later revealed that Chrestomanci had known about it all along. She later decides to stay in Cat's world and becomes Chrestomanci's ward.

Chrestomanci – Christopher Chant

Chrestomanci is very unpredictable and random. He is a nine-lifed enchanter like Cat, but only has two lives left after a series of accidents took place when he was younger. Chrestomanci has very strong magic and must appear whenever summoned; he works for the government, controlling magic and keeping hold on wayward witches and wizards.

Julia Chant

Julia is one of Chrestomanci's two children. She is quite fat and normally nice, but proves to have a vengeful streak when Gwendolen provokes her. Julia's magic seems to center on a handkerchief. However, her magic is lesser than Cat's, and she often finds her attempts at revenge disrupted by him.

Roger Chant

Roger is Julia's brother and the other child of Chrestomanci. He tends to be laid back and not as hot-tempered as his sister. Roger is more inclined to cooperate with Cat and to entertain him. He usually ignores Gwendolen, unless things get too out of hand.

Awards

Jones and Charmed Life won the annual Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a once-in-a-lifetime book award judged by a panel of British children's writers. The novel was also a commended runner up for the Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject. It also won the German Preis der Leseratten.

Translations

Dutch and Finnish-language translations were published in 1980, followed by German. Danish, Italian, and French editions were published in the 1990s (when the four early novels were in print); later Polish and Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese, Serbian.