The Magicians of Caprona

I'm not sure whether I like this cover of The Magicians of Caprona or not -- it's a little misleading, since the elephant only appears very briefly in the story, and I'm inclined to think that the griffins should have been more prominent. The original cover looks very familiar, so I think I might have read it when it first came out in 1980 or shortly thereafter.

No one could accuse this cover of being too exciting, but I like the medieval feel and the Italian atmosphere which is one of the greatest pleasures of the book. It's a shame the all-important angel is hidden by the title! Also the figure on the left is supposed to be Chrestomanci and he doesn't look nearly charismatic enough.

The feuding Italian families has an obvious source in the story of Romeo and Juliet, and this book even includes a pair of star-crossed lovers to make it even clearer. However there were elements that I didn't enjoy quite so much, namely the Punch and Judy theme -- I'm not a huge fan of puppets and the violence inherent in the traditional Punch and Judy story troubles me, though Diana Wynne Jones uses the device cleverly. (This reminds me, I don't think Gwendolen getting spanked in Charmed Life has aged too well, either.) But the puppet stuff doesn't spoil a hugely satisfying story, even though the solution to the problem of the missing spell words is perhaps a little simple -- would they really have overlooked the answer for two hundred years? I do love Angelica and Tonino working together, and of course the cat Benvenuto steals every scene he appears in. I'm noticing how much Diana Wynne Jones loves her magical cats. No wonder my friend Judy, noted cat-lover, is such a DWJ fan.