Summary and Reviews of Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Chapter One
In Which Sophie Talks to Hats

In the land of Ingary, where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, it is quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of three. Everyone knows you are the one who will fail first, and worst, if the three of you set out to seek your fortunes.

Sophie Hatter was the eldest of three sisters. She was not even the child of a poor woodcutter, which might have given her some chance of success! Her parents were well to do and kept a ladies' hat shop in the prosperous town of Market Chipping. True, her own mother died when Sophie was two years old and her sister Lettie was one year old, and their father married his youngest shop assistant, a pretty blonde girl called Fanny. Fanny shortly gave birth to the third sister, Martha. This ought to have made Sophie and Lettie into Ugly Sisters, but in fact all three girls grew up very pretty indeed, though Lettie was the one everyone said was most beautiful. Fanny treated all three ...

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Did you find Sophie a compelling protagonist? How does she change over the course of the story, and did those changes make her a more interesting character to you?
2. When Sophie becomes an old woman, her personality changes. What do you think Diana Wynne Jones was trying to say about how women are expected to act in Sophie's world? What similarities or parallels are there to our own society?
3. What did you think of the relationship between Howl and Calcifer when they were initially introduced? Did you catch Calcifer's "clues" about the contract between him and Howl, and did discovering the terms of their contract change your feelings about their relationship?
4. Were you ...