Diana Wynne Jones
Books by Diana Wynne Jones
“I could’ve picked pretty much any Diana Wynne Jones novel. Diana is magnificent author… Archer’s Goon is set in a city very much like Bristol, where she lived. The father is a university professor, just as Diana’s husband Charlie was a university professor. The novel itself involves seven strange entities or demigods who are bound to this town. They cannot leave, although they want to, and they each control a specific thing that happens in the town: crime, perhaps, or technology. One of them, we learn, lives, literally, in the past. A young boy gets to the bottom of what’s going on. It’s a complicated story, as much written for adults as for kids.” Read more...
Neil Gaiman, Novelist
“Young adult books often cut to the heart of human relationships. Literature for young people sometimes simplifies things by making them metaphorical, by moving them into a fairy-tale world. That often means YA stories give us some of the most profound stories of human relationships. Howl’s Moving Castle is a story of this caliber.” Read more...
Jenny Davidson, Literary Scholar
“A book that mixes magic and reality in such a brilliant way that the magic feels very real.” Read more...
Cressida Cowell on Magical Stories for Kids
Cressida Cowell, Children's Author
The Lives of Christopher Chant
by Diana Wynne Jones
A schoolboy discovers that in his dreams he travels to many worlds. I suppose the reason parallel worlds fiction appeals to children is because the child is a bit like a lunatic in some way…they haven’t yet been socialised or told the ways in which they have to direct their thoughts and censor their personalities.
Interviews where books by Diana Wynne Jones were recommended
The best books on Parallel Worlds, recommended by Joanna Kavenna
The highly respected author who has held fellowships at both Oxford and Cambridge universities discusses books that focus on parallel realities. Comes up with some great lesser-known must-read fiction
Cressida Cowell on Magical Stories for Kids
From wizards to alchemy and fairies to folklore, Cressida Cowell reveals the magical stories that were most important to her as a child (and which she now delights in sharing with her own children), and her own inspirations for writing about magic and magical worlds today.
The Best Love Stories, recommended by Jenny Davidson
From Jane Austen to James Baldwin, the best love stories in literature recommended by Jenny Davidson, novelist, historian and Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.
Comfort Reads, recommended by Neil Gaiman
In his latest book, fans from around the world chose which of Neil Gaiman’s writings they liked the best, a great introduction to his writing for anyone not familiar with his work. Here the prolific, genre-bending author recommends some of his own favourite books: comfort reads to turn to in difficult times.
