Charmed Life cover art

Charmed Life

The Chrestomanci Series

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Charmed Life

By: Diana Wynne Jones
Narrated by: Tom Baker
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About this listen

"One of the wittiest, sharpest children’s fantasies ever written" – Katherine Rundell

Everybody says that Gwendolyn Chant is a gifted witch with astonishing powers, so it suits her enormously when she is taken to live in Chrestomanci Castle. Her brother Eric (better known as Cat) is not so keen, for he has no talent for magic at all.

However, life with the great enchanter is not what either of them expects and sparks begin to fly!

©1977 Diana Wynne Jones (P)1977 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy Fantasy Magic Users Magic Witchcraft Cats

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All stars
Most relevant  
A very Enchanting Read :) went through this pretty quickly as the story was so very exciting.

From My Favourite Childhood Author

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I read this book years ago and enjoyed hearing it again. The music playing over the story was annoying.

Good story

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enjoyed this story, starts slow but it soon gets interesting, fun, magical when unexpected twists

captivating

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A beautifully written story of magicians and magic. Intended for older children and old ladies who always believed in magic

Love it

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Where does Charmed Life rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

top half

What other book might you compare Charmed Life to, and why?

Elidor - a well woven plot

What about Tom Baker’s performance did you like?

Good variety of voicesYes

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

I enjoy Diane Wynn Jones writing; coupled with Tom Baker's Narration it is a winner.

Great Story, well read

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Very enjoyable. Would much prefer it unabridged for the full Diana Wynne Jones charm. Tom Baker is a very good, engaging reader, although I had imagined a smoother Chrestomanci voice, but very well done in any case.

A pleasant listen for any age

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This book is phenomenal, and was read very well, except I was sad that we did not receive the full story, since it was unfortunately abridged.

Why abridged?

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I love this series of books - but Charmed Life is bottom of my list, I’m afraid. The abridgement is pretty good and the performance from the legendary Tom Baker really enjoyable.

Not the best in the series

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Always loved this book and the narrator was superb. Naturally a pity it’s an abridged version. However, the musical interruptions were quite awful and take you right out of the story at key moments. Such a shame to ruin a lovely story and performance like that.

The music ruined it!

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This is a great children’s book. It is though spoiled by its abridging and ridiculous musical interludes.

Shame

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