Charles loved it, yes, but what he wanted was to not feel powerless and for people to understand him. Now he’s got friends and is autonomous, a better deal than just magicking shoes.

I can see what you mean, about everybody sort of getting what they wanted, but still I wasn’t completely crazy about it. I was sort of okay about Nan, but Charles loved being an enchanter! I was crushed he didn’t get to keep being one.

BUT! You mentioned to movement from selfishness to self-awareness, which I love, and the complexity of the characters (also loved). So I don’t have much to say now … BUT! Though there is an initial disappointment with the ending, it works. You see, despite the lack of overt magic, there still is a great deal of magic in their new world. Nan can still invent, etc, and people are where they will be the most happy: Simon can still feel superior but now with Brian (who enjoys the same thing), while Dan can be bad. As for Teresa et alia, they get to be happy being prim and smug in their own homogeneous world, which is what they preferred all along. The girls who preferred difference get the public (wait, private? flippin’ England!) school experience and all its differences.

So yeah, it works for me. It’s just subtle.

My order was (as far as I recall) The Lives of Christopher Chant, Charmed Life, Witch Week, Magicians of Caprona, Conrad’s Fate. When Conrad’s Fate came out, I read it out loud to my little sister without reading it first – so we were both reading it for the first time. It made for a vivid reading experience, so I like Conrad’s Fate a lot now. But yeah, I think of The Pinhoe Egg as slightly separate to the others.

Well, gee, I just found out on wikipedia that Dianna Wynne Jones herself recommends a specific reading order:

Charmed Life
The Lives of Christopher Chant
Conrad’s Fate
Witch Week
The Magicians of Caprona

Who am I to argue? My order was Witch Week, The Lives of Christopher Chant, Charmed Life, Magicians of Caprona. Conrad’s fate wasn’t written yet when I was a teenager, but I think both it and the Pinhoe Egg Belong at the end of the list, because they were written so much later and the style is a bit different.

Wow, I am fail with the sidebars. My sister has apparently known about Enchanted Glass forever too. Sigh.

I think you’re probably right about someone remaining a witch, it’s sort of implied Charles might be one. I was disappointed on Nan’s behalf, though, because I identified with her the most. Why couldn’t she stay a witch in the proper world? And yeah, DWJ’s characters are wonderful – I have grown more fond of many of them upon successive rereadings of her books.

My explanation is perfectly logical. And I did say it was fudging a bit!