Howl’s Moving Castle was published by Greenwillow Books in 1986. The novel is set in the land of Ingary, “where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist.” Sophie Hatter, the eldest of three sisters (and therefore, by fairy-tale logic, the one destined to fail), is cursed by the Witch of the Waste into the body of a ninety-year-old woman. Unable to tell anyone about the curse, she walks out into the hills and takes up residence in the moving castle of Wizard Howl — a vain, cowardly, brilliant young man reputed to eat the hearts of young girls.
The novel’s genius lies in its manipulation of fairy-tale conventions. Sophie believes she knows her story — eldest daughter, doomed to fail — and acts accordingly. Howl performs the role of wicked wizard while actually being something more complex. The fire demon Calcifer, who powers the castle, is bound by a contract whose terms no one fully understands. Every character is trapped by a story they believe about themselves, and the plot’s resolution requires each of them to see past their assumed role to the reality beneath.
Jones’s prose is deceptively light — witty, fast-moving, apparently effortless — but structurally the novel is extraordinarily complex. The castle’s door opens onto four different places depending on a colored dial; time operates differently inside than outside; and the mysteries of Howl’s past, the Witch’s motivation, and the fire demon’s bargain are all connected in ways that only become clear on rereading.
Studio Ghibli’s 2004 animated adaptation by Hayao Miyazaki brought the novel to an enormous international audience, though the film significantly departs from Jones’s plot. The book has remained continuously in print and is widely considered one of the finest fantasy novels of the twentieth century.
Collecting Howl’s Moving Castle
First edition (Greenwillow Books, New York, 1986): Hardcover, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $300–$800
- Very good/very good: $100–$300
- UK first (Methuen, 1986): $200–$500