Chronicles of Chrestomanci

Chrestomanci #5 When his uncle sends him to work at the mysterious Stallery Mansion, twelve-year-old Conrad Tesdinic overcomes his bad karma and discovers in the mansion's winecellar the source of the magic that threatens to pull his world into one of the eleven other parallel universes.

When a teacher at an English boarding school finds a note on his desk accusing someone in the class of being a witch, magical things begin to happen and an Inquisitor is summoned.

Cat Chant and Marianne Pinhoe have discovered something incredibly exciting, truly precious, and very strange — an egg.This egg was not meant to be found. Chrestomanci himself, Cat's guardian and the strongest enchanter in the world, is sure to find it particularly interesting. And that's the last thing Marianne's family of secret rogue witches wants.But the Pinhoes' secrets are falling to pieces, and powerful spells are wreaking havoc across the country-side. Marianne and Cat may be the only two who can set things right — if Marianne accepts her own powerful magic, and Cat solves the mystery behind the mystical Pinhoe Egg.

An elegant stranger appears on seedy Coven Street and collects the two Chant orphans -- Gwendolen, a powerful young witch, and Cat, her brother. The stranger, known as "Chrestomanci," delivers the children to the grandeur of Chrestomanci Castle. Frustrated that the witches of the castle refuse to acknowledge her talents, Gwendolen conjures up a scheme that could throw whole worlds out of whack. These can be read in the order published, or the author has suggested a different reading order, found here

PerfectBound e-book exclusive extras: "Diana Wynne Jones's The Chronicles of Chrestomanci: Nine Notes"; and our exclusive interview with Diana Wynne Jones.His father and uncles are enchanters, his mother a powerful sorceress, yet nothing seems magical about Christopher Chant except his dreams. Night after night, he climbs through the formless Place Between and visits marvelous lands he calls the Almost Anywheres.