BooksBarbecue
Back Howl's Moving Castle Save as PDF
Contents ( 57)
  1. HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE
  2. Dedication
  3. Contents
  4. Chapter One
  5. IN WHICH SOPHIE TALKS TO HATS
  6. Chapter Two
  7. IN WHICH SOPHIE IS COMPELLED TO SEEK HER FORTUNE
  8. Chapter Three
  9. IN WHICH SOPHIE ENTERS INTO A CASTLE AND A BARGAIN
  10. Chapter Four
  11. IN WHICH SOPHIE DISCOVERS SEVERAL STRANGE THINGS
  12. Chapter Five
  13. WHICH IS FAR TOO FULL OF WASHING
  14. Chapter Six
  15. IN WHICH HOWL EXPRESSES HIS FEELINGS WITH GREEN SLIME
  16. Chapter Seven
  17. IN WHICH A SCARECROW PREVENTS SOPHIE FROM LEAVING THE CASTLE
  18. Chapter Eight
  19. IN WHICH SOPHIE LEAVES THE CASTLE IN SEVERAL DIRECTIONS AT ONCE
  20. Chapter Nine
  21. IN WHICH MICHAEL HAS TROUBLE WITH A SPELL
  22. Chapter Ten
  23. IN WHICH CALCIFER PROMISES SOPHIE A HINT
  24. Chapter Eleven
  25. IN WHICH HOWL GOES TO A STRANGE COUNTRY IN SEARCH OF A SPELL
  26. Chapter Twelve
  27. IN WHICH SOPHIE BECOMES HOWL’S OLD MOTHER
  28. Chapter Thirteen
  29. IN WHICH SOPHIE BLACKENS HOWL’S NAME
  30. Chapter Fourteen
  31. IN WHICH A ROYAL WIZARD CATCHES A COLD
  32. Chapter Fifteen
  33. IN WHICH HOWL GOES TO A FUNERAL IN DISGUISE
  34. Chapter Sixteen
  35. IN WHICH THERE IS A GREAT DEAL OF WITCHCRAFT
  36. Chapter Seventeen
  37. IN WHICH THE MOVING CASTLE MOVES HOUSE
  38. Chapter Eighteen
  39. IN WHICH THE SCARECROW AND MISS ANGORIAN REAPPEAR
  40. Chapter Nineteen
  41. IN WHICH SOPHIE EXPRESSES HER FEELINGS WITH WEED-KILLER
  42. Chapter Twenty
  43. IN WHICH SOPHIE FINDS FURTHER DIFFICULTIES IN LEAVING THE CASTLE
  44. Chapter Twenty-One
  45. IN WHICH A CONTRACT IS CONCLUDED BEFORE WITNESSES
  46. HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE
  47. Read on for an excerpt from The Merlin Conspiracy
  48. I
  49. ONE
  50. Read on for an excerpt from Dark Lord of Derkholm
  51. ONE
  52. Read on for an excerpt from Archer’s Goon
  53. Chapter One
  54. About the Author
  55. Credits
  56. Copyright
  57. About the Publisher

“Then by all means do so,” laughed this advanced young man. “Who am I to keep a pretty lady from her sister? Would you like me to go with you, since you seem so scared?”

He meant it kindly, which made Sophie more ashamed than ever. “No. No thank you, sir!” she gasped and fled away past him. He wore perfume too. The smell of hyacinths followed her as she ran. What a courtly person! Sophie thought, as she pushed her way between the little tables outside Cesari’s.

The tables were packed. Inside was packed and as noisy as the Square. Sophie located Lettie among the line of assistants at the counter because of the group of evident farmers’ sons leaning their elbows on it to shout remarks to her. Lettie, prettier than ever and perhaps a little thinner, was putting cakes into bags as fast as she could go, giving each bag a deft little twist and looking back under her own elbow with a smile and an answer for each bag she twisted. There was a great deal of laughter. Sophie had to fight her way through to the counter.

Lettie saw her. She looked shaken for a moment. Then her eyes and her smile widened and she shouted, “Sophie!”

“Can I talk to you?” Sophie yelled. “Somewhere,” she shouted, a little helplessly, as a large, well-dressed elbow jostled her back from the counter.

“Just a moment!” Lettie screamed back. She turned to the girl next to her and whispered. The girl nodded, grinned, and came to take Lettie’s place.

“You’ll have to have me instead,” she said to the crowd. “Who’s next?”

“But I want to talk to you, Lettie!” one of the farmers’ sons yelled.

“Talk to Carrie,” Lettie said. “I want to talk to my sister.” Nobody really seemed to mind. They jostled Sophie along to the end of the counter, where Lettie held up a flap and beckoned, and told her not to keep Lettie all day. When Sophie had edged through the flap, Lettie seized her wrist and dragged her into the back of the shop, to a room surrounded by rack upon wooden rack, each one filled with rows of cakes. Lettie pulled forward two stools. “Sit down,” she said. She looked in the nearest rack, in an absentminded way, and handed Sophie a cream cake out of it. “You may need this,” she said.

Sophie sank onto the stool, breathing the rich smell of cake and feeling a little tearful. “Oh, Lettie!” she said. “I am so glad to see you!”

“Yes, and I’m glad you’re sitting down,” said Lettie. “You see, I’m not Lettie. I’m Martha.”

Image

Chapter Two

IN WHICH SOPHIE IS COMPELLED TO SEEK HER FORTUNE

Image

“What?” Sophie stared at the girl on the stool opposite her. She looked just like Lettie. She was wearing Lettie’s second-best blue dress, a wonderful blue that suited her perfectly. She had Lettie’s dark hair and blue eyes.