Episode 57 - Scary Sisters (Charmed Life and Virginia Wolf)

It's always a good time when it's a Diana Wynne Jones day on the podcast! Our chapter book is Charmed Life, by DWJ, dredged straight from Matt's childhood. The scary sister in this book is Gwendolen, who overshadows and leads her younger brother Cat. After the tragic death of their parents, Cat and Gwendolen move into a big castle with a powerful enchanter, Chrestomanci himself. Gwendolen immediately engages in a ferocious battle of wills with Chrestomanci and we're cheering for her, almost to the very end. Iconic and evil, that's Gwendolen Chant.

Our picture book is Virginia Wolf, by Kyo Maclear and Isabelle Arsenault. This is a story loosely based on the real life relationship between Virginia Woolf and her sister, the painter Vanessa Bell. What do you do if you wake up one day to find that your sister has become a wolf? What if she growls and snarls and sends all your friends away? What if she doesn't even want you to wear your pretty yellow dress? This is a very simple, very beautiful story about dark, wolfish feelings, a real art-forward picture book (shouldn't they all be?). 

It's definitely worth checking out our instagram this week because there's gonna be pictures of Matt cosplaying as Chrestomanci, circa 1999.

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What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com