A Storyteller

Can I tell you a story?

It's about a young reader who was so in love with books that she couldn't stop reading even if she tried.

That was me, of course. When I was a child, I could never be without a book. I always drifted toward the fantasy section in libraries, because I loved reading about worlds full of magic and wonder and excitement, so unlike and yet in many ways so similar to our own.

The heroes of those books may have had magic on their side, but they were real people just the same, prone to tough decisions and hard choices that often had world-shattering consequences.

All right, so maybe I never had magic, maybe I never had the fate of the world in my hands, maybe I never went on epic adventures, but with these books I could go along with characters I loved into worlds where all this was real.

One of the first authors who allowed me to do that was Diana Wynne Jones.

Diana Wynne Jones, author of books such as Howl's Moving Castle, and The Chrestomanci Quartet, was a prolific fantasy writer whose works spanned worlds, galaxies, and times, all written with a loving hand and a wry humor that sparkled in the midst of plots that were complex, gripping, and sometimes frightening.

She wrote complex, passionate characters who, despite their fantastic surroundings, were so believable that it made their problems and situations that much more real. When I was reading her books, I believed in the plot, I believed in the characters, and I believed in the world they lived in.

I don't remember when I first started reading her books, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was even before Harry Potter was first published. Diana Wynne Jones' books had a profound effect on me, one that I don't think I ever fully realized until recently. They practically defined the genre in my mind, and I reread them constantly, despite my habit of very rarely rereading books.

I even wrote her a letter after reading The Magicians of Caprona. She wrote back, thanking me for telling her how much I liked the book. It was, she said, one of the only ways she could really know that people did like her books.

I still have the letter. It's on the wall in my room back in Vermont.

Diana Wynne Jones died today, leaving behind her an enormous legacy of beautifully written fantasy novels, many of which I haven't even discovered yet. She created vast worlds that were incredibly detailed and full of life and wonder and the love that only a writer who truly loves the worlds they're creating can write.

Rest in peace, Diana. I will always love your books. Thank you for what you've done for book lovers and fantasy lovers everywhere.