Diana Wynne Jones has been writing children’s books about magic (including the Chrestomanci  series and the filmed Howl’s Moving Castle) since the 1970s. While fashions have come and gone, and authors like J.K. Rowling have made unimaginable amounts of money, she has written before and after such trends. This is her latest novel,  a lovely stand-alone story with wonderful characters. Andrew Hope, the hero of this story, inherits his magician grandfather’s house and field-of-care. Andrew remembers spending much of his childhood there, but much is also forgotten, and while Andrew is dimly aware of his own magical powers, he hasn’t used them much. Strong-minded and thoroughly eccentric staff try to bend him, and introduce their relatives into the mix, and a 12-year-old boy appears needing refuge from some shadowy threats. Giant vegetables and an oversupply of cauliflower cheese are running gags, and Andrew is a lovely gentle character who almost immediately falls in love with one of the new staff. English eccentricity and magic combine well and Jones is a consummate storyteller with plenty of practice who creates a wonderful consistent slightly alternative reality. Well worth a read, especially for those who don’t like the darkness of Harry Potter. There are villains here, but they are not very scary, being rather more of the bombastic and bumbling variety.