Howl’s Moving Castle cover art

Howl’s Moving Castle

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Howl’s Moving Castle

By: Diana Wynne Jones
Narrated by: John Sessions
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £7.99

Buy Now for £7.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

‘One of the greatest ever writers for children’ – Garth Nix

‘A true original’ – Katherine Rundell

‘Truly magical … Guaranteed to leave you gasping’ The Bookseller

‘She is the best writer of magical fantasy for children’ Evening Standard

Deciding she has nothing more to lose, Sophie makes her way to the moving castle that hovers on the hills above her town, Market Chipping. But the castle belongs to the dreaded Wizard Howl, whose appetite, they say, is satisfied only by the souls of young girls…

There Sophie meets Michael, Howl’s apprentice, and Calcifer the fire demon, with whom she agrees a pact. Her entanglements with Calcifer, Howl and Michael and her quest to break her curse come alive with Diana Wynne Jones’s unique combination of magic, humour and imagination.

©1986 Diana Wynne Jones Classics Fantasy Fiction Growing Up Growing Up & Facts of Life Humorous Fiction Literature & Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy Comedy Magic Magic Users Funny Wizardry Witchcraft

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Priory of the Orange Tree cover art
The Complete George Smiley Radio Dramas cover art
That Mitchell and Webb Sound: The Complete Series 1-5 cover art
New Spring cover art
The Colour of Magic cover art
The Colour of Magic cover art
Evie's Ghost cover art
The Time Twister cover art
Doomsday Book cover art

Critic reviews

"One of the greatest ever writers for children" – Garth Nix

"A true original" – Katherine Rundell

“Imaginative and terribly funny” – Michael Morpurgo

THE TELEGRAPH – 100 Best Books a Child Should Read

“Wit and humor glint from the pages" – THE HORN BOOK

Praise for Diana Wynne Jones

“…Her hallmarks include laugh-aloud humour, plenty of magic and imaginative array of alternate worlds. Yet, at the same time, a great seriousness is present in all of her novels, a sense of urgency that links Jones’s most outrageous plots to her readers’ hopes and fears…” – Publishers Weekly

“Diana Wynne Jones ought to be crowned with coloured garlands because she is the best writer of magical fantasy for children in this country ” – Evening Standard

“Diana Wynne Jones could teach Stephen King and JK Rowling a thing or two … [she] has a skill for inserting just the right amount of detail in her written words, leaving you satiated but not stuffed.” – SFX
All stars
Most relevant
Howl's Moving Castle is by far one of my favourite books, that's why for me the fact it is abridged was very noticeable. I have read the book about 5 times and know it well, as well as having a few favourite lines. Some of which were missing.

As for the performance, I think John Sessions was pretty good. I felt he had the right voice as the narrator. As for the characters, I wasn't too sure. It was ok, but when you read the book or of you have watched the Studio Ghibli adaptation, you have certain expectations. Overall, however, I think it was well done.

As this is my favourite book, I am pretty certain I will be listening to this again. It's nice to listen instead of read when your a bit tired or travelling (as reading when travelling makes me feel ill). The book, I would rate as 5/5 and this adaptation I would rate as 4/5.

Sad that it's abridged ...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It’s a great story and suitable for all ages but it’s a shame it’s the abridged version.

Shame it’s abridged

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Where does Howl's Moving Castle rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

My children love this audiobook, both the story and performance it is one of their favourite bedtime stories

Who was your favorite character and why?

Sophie, who starts off as a mouse of a girl to become a cool heroine

Have you listened to any of John Sessions’s other performances? How does this one compare?

No

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Great children's fiction

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
this was such an unexpectedly good book it got recommended to me on an April Readathon.. I didn't really go into it with any expectations other than I wanted to complete the months readathon... but I was pleasantly surprised I love the music brakes as well

loved it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I have been trying to obtain a audio copy of this book for a couple of years so was very happy to find it on Audible.

Diana Wynne Jones never ceases to please amaze entrance with her story weaving of magicians‘, mystery & magical mayhem.

The only disappointment for us was that this is an abridged version of Howl's Moving Castle so it was over far too quickly.

Fantastical Fantasy World

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews