Wild Robert

by Diana Wynne Jones, Mark Zug (Illustrator)

Heather's parents are the caretakers of the stately home Castlemaine, and Heather would love living there -- if it weren't for the tourists. Every summer they invade Castlemaine, and one day they even trample into all of her secret quiet spots. The only one left is a peculiar little mound that the villagers say is the grave of Wild Robert, a legendary magician who lived 350 years ago. When Heather cries out for Wild Robert to use his magical powers on the tourists, she never expects a handsome young man to appear right in front of her. She never expects all the mischief he causes, either! Will Castlemaine ever be the same once Wild Robert has returned? This novel for young readers is full of Diana Wynne Jones's signature humor, inventiveness, and charm.

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Young Adult, Fiction, Middle Grade, Magic, Humor

100 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Diana Wynne Jones was a celebrated British writer best known for her inventive and influential works of fantasy for children and young adults. Her stories often combined magical worlds with science fiction elements, parallel universes, and a sharp sense of humor. Among her most beloved books are Howl's Moving Castle, the Chrestomanci series, The Dalemark Quartet, Dark Lord of Derkholm, and the satirical The Tough Guide to Fantasyland. Her work gained renewed attention and readership with the popularity of the Harry Potter series, to which her books have frequently been compared.

Admired by authors such as Neil Gaiman, Philip Pullman, and J.K. Rowling, Jones was a major influence on the landscape of modern fantasy. She received numerous accolades throughout her career, including the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, two Mythopoeic Awards, the Karl Edward Wagner Award, and the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement. In 2004, Howl's Moving Castle was adapted into an acclaimed animated film by Hayao Miyazaki, further expanding her global audience.

Jones studied at Oxford, where she attended lectures by both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. She began writing professionally in the 1960s and remained active until her death in 2011. Her final novel, The Islands of Chaldea, was completed posthumously by her sister Ursula Jones.

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is half of a fairly promising novel. And I really mean half -- not, "oh, this has potential but it needs a good rewrite," but "Here is the first half of my finished book. I left the second half on the train and can't be bothered to redo it." Almost more disappointing than a bad book, because I wanted to know how the story turned out.

[Stephen Theaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of Diana Wynne Jones's major works, but interesting nevertheless, and I was thrilled to find it on the shelves of Birmingham Central Library while the children were rolling around on giant cushions.

Heather lives in a stately home which her parents manage for the National Trust. When she idly wishes for Wild Robert to wake up and deal with Mr McManus, the unpleasant gardener, and the tourists who bother her, he does. He plays magical tricks on everyone, but everything's fine by the end of the day.

What's interesting to me is that essentially this is a book about sex, about the way the introduction of sex - or at least boys - into a young girl's life changes everything. I don't mean to say it is a sordid book - nothing very saucy actually happens. Rather, it is all about the confusion and excitement of a girl's first love.

Robert is the archetypal romantic idol, a typical first crush with his shoulder length hair and good looks. When his hand touches Heather "it somehow fizzed against Heather's bare arm so that all the hairs stood up round the place he touched". That his wildness is sexual is flagged by his very first bit of magic - turning a group of teenagers into nymphs and fauns and sending them to rut in the woods (they "will romp until sundown").

Robert changes everything for Heather. From feeling like little more than an annoyance to everyone in her life, she becomes the most important person in the world to him. And, of course, from the moment he enters her life her main concern is to keep him away from her father. "She knew she had to make him believe when he did meet Robert, and there were a lot of things she wanted to think about first."

I found the strawberry scene very interesting too. Until now Mr McManus has always stopped her from eating them, but Robert waves his hand around and McManus is frozen, leaving her free to eat her fill. Is McManus representative of adult, male, threatening sexuality, something to be afraid of, kept at a distance? Once he's immobilised she is free - and barely hesitates - to eat as many strawberries as she would like. But maybe that's pushing the analysis too far.

So although it's a short book, taking little more than an hour to read, its themes make it an interesting complement to Fire and Hemlock, perhaps Diana Wynne Jones's most powerful work, making it well worth reading for that reason alone.

[deborah o'carroll (offline during 2026) · Rating 5 out of 5]

What if a mysterious magical being who had been asleep for 350 years, woke up in modern times, found the castle of his former home turned into a tourist attraction, and decided to make mischief? That’s Wild Robert for you! Heather has a lot to put up with when she accidentally summons him into her tourist-crammed day… Shenanigans ensue!

Quite short read (100 pages including illustrations and large print; I read it in a sitting) and a very fun way to kick off March Magics/Diana Wynne Jones March 2017! :)

I’d never read this one before. It made me think a little bit of Eight Days of Luke, and maybe a dash of Howl’s Moving Castle for one tiny reason. DWJ once again blends fantasy, history, modern times, humor, strangeness, and fascinating characters in a bizarre but heart-capturing read.

It’s not all fun and pranks though… there’s a deeper mystery and something sinister behind all of this, and the reveal twisted my heart and made me feel bad for poor Robert! I was conflicted about this strange impish character — he definitely keeps you guessing. ;) He’s a fascinating mystery, I guess you could say.

It was quite enjoyable, and I loved the twist at the end about who Robert is! :D

It stopped rather before I wanted it to… I could have read another two or three hundred pages on this!! So at first I was sliiightly disappointed about that, but at the same time it works perfectly, ending at just the right place to let the imagination wander free about what might happen next… ;) So I’m happy with it. :) DWJ always leaves you wanting more!

(It almost made me consider wanting to write a fan-fiction continuation, I wanted to know so badly. The idea of fan-fiction almost never crosses my mind. Heehee.)

Great fun! ^_^

(Read my review at The Page Dreamer: https://thepagedreamer.wordpress.com/...)

[Bibliothecat · Rating 3 out of 5]

"What strange things are called treasure!"

As the daughter of its curators, Heather spends her every summer holiday hiding from tourists who crowd Castlemaine. In a moment of frustration, she calls upon the long-dead magician, known as Wild Robert, to deal with the invaders. Not quite expecting him to actually appear, she finds herself unable to deal with this mischievous magician on the loose.

Much in the style of her other works, Diana Wynne Jones creates another charming, trouble-causing magician worthy of Howl's Moving Castle. Like Howl, Robert is a prankster who bends things to suit his own merit. However, he does it in a charming way whilst showing Heather - and the reader - that he has good reasons for acting so.

Although it is a very short book, it delivers lots to laugh about, a great mystery buildup and has a solid plot with great pacing and then - unfortunately - fails in the sense that it ought to have been several chapters longer. It is such a shame that a story with a character as interesting as Robert would be axed into a very rushed final chapter after reaching its climax - while it builds up so nicely from chapter to chapter, it just ends up in a free fall.

There is a vague hint of how it might have continued. I don't mind open endings that leave you thinking - but this one couldn't feel more incomplete. Keeping that in mind and being prepared for the sudden end, it is still a worthwhile looking into it if you need a quick and fun read!

[Fen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really did enjoy this one... it just seems like it was only half the story, as if someone had cut out the last half of the book before binding.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Heather felt as if something tipped with Robert’s hand. It was as if the part of the world that was ordinary and possible went slanting away sideways in a thin sheet. One edge of the thin sheet went upwards, and the other sloped down through the harder, stranger part of the world that was always underneath, leaving that part bare.'
— Chapter Two.

When Diana Wynne Jones writes magic, it’s like no other magic descriptions I’ve read. It’s strange and weird, as you’d expect, but it’s also discombobulating in the sense that there are perceptual paradoxes involved, with words you might recognise juxtaposed in such unexpected ways that one is completely disorientated and totally disconcerted.

And even in this short novella aimed at younger readers she manages to get across the warning that magic can be dangerous, especially magic used by an aggrieved young man who’s awakened after 350 years of enforced slumber to find his former home seemingly invaded by hordes of visitors whom he regards as disrespectful.

Can young Heather restrain his pique and appeal to his better nature before things get too nasty?

Heather’s parents help run Castlemaine, a stately home now owned by a fictional version of the National Trust; here they act as guides, leading tours around a castle which has seen many additions and alterations over the centuries. It’s the summer holidays and Heather is bored of trying to keep out of the way of visitors and the irascible gardener, so she goes to sit on a strange mound, said to be either the site of an early modern ice house, a Bronze Age burial mound, or where treasure associated with a Jacobean magician known as Wild Robert has been buried.

Needless to say, Heather inevitably but unintentionally calls up Wild Robert, who turns out to be the ghost of a young cavalier dressed in black velvet, whose powers wax during the day but cease at nightfall. The son of a witch, his death had been brought about due to a family feud, and it’s Heather’s misfortune that she has a day trying to tone down the antics of the otherwise pleasant young man.

This is a slight but wittily composed fantasy from Diana Wynne Jones, published during a particularly productive time in the late 1980s when she switched back and forth between stories for younger and older readers. A castle setting for young protagonists appears of course in some of her Chrestomanci and Howl’s Moving Castle stories, but I was also reminded at times of the later The Beasts of Clawstone Castle, a 2005 fantasy by Eva Ibbotson which also featured youngsters interacting with ghosts in a stately mansion.

Wild Robert happened to be one of the very few remaining fantasies by Jones which I’d yet to read so, for the sake of some sense of completism, I was glad to have finally got round to it. Though not the most inventive and satisfying of her tales for younger readers I found it interesting as a portrait of a young girl infatuated by a ‘bad boy’, one who like Wizard Howl has an implicit sexual chemistry but who happily transgresses across forbidden lines. He turns petting teenagers into fauns and nymphs, the unpleasant gardener into a beast, and people trooping over ‘his’ home into ‘sheeple’.

It’s curious in that it virtually inverts the conventional Beauty and the Beast trope by having the love interest transform humans into animals instead of himself being transformed into an animal. It’s another case of Jones cunningly subverting expectations.

[Harold Ogle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recommendation: an enjoyable short story about the potential of summoning fae.

Review: A preteen daughter of two historical landmark caretakers inadvertently summons forth a fae-touched former owner of the property named Robert. Chaos ensues as he struggles to understand modern life and uses his fae magic to various ends.

Critique: This is a fun read. There are two very notable choices that Jones and her editor(s) made with this story that make it stand out from other fantasy novellas. The first is that it's a comedy. It's not a comedy in the classic sense - there is no marriage at the end of the story - but it is written to be funny. As a result of this, the main character - along with most of the other characters - is not terrified of Robert's magic and the horrible things he does with it. It's slapstick, not terror. For example, Robert transforms the teens into satyrs and nymphs who run off to engage in a Bacchanalian orgy off-screen. When they are restored later, they are timid rather than traumatized. Similarly, the gardener is transformed into a dog for comic effect: more the goofy hijinks of The Shaggy Dog than the horror of losing one's hands and voice in Pinocchio: everyone seems to recognize him still and are exasperated at the inconvenience rather than despairing that someone could be robbed of their humanity so quickly.

The second noteworthy choice is that, like Earwig and the Witch after it, Jones gives Wild Robert the classic "What happens next?" ending so popular in many forms of 20th century entertainment. There is no denouement, nor is there a resolution or even a climax to the narrative. Jones sets up the situation and establishes the stakes, then ends the story with few clues on how it will proceed. We have to come up with the ending on our own: what do we think happens next?

[Aelvana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heather lives in Castlemaine, a very large, very old house owned by the British Trust and open to tourists. Her parents run the tours in the house. One day, Heather ends up calling Wild Robert out of a mound with the thoughtless wish that he appear to drive out the tourists. Hilarity ensues.

This is a very short story at 100 pages exactly, but no less enjoyable. Heather's unusual life makes her an interesting character, though she retains enough selfishness and self-consciousness to be very likable. Her observations about tourists and those who cater to them are very amusing and dead accurate.

Wild Robert himself is the best reason to read the book. Arrogant, spoiled, powerful, and three hundred and fifty years out of date, he swaggers on scene and steals the show. His pranks are hilarious, particularly because he seems to have no sense of shame at giving people what he thinks they deserve.

The magic, the humor, and the humanity of the characters is Jones' signature far more than her name on the cover. This book is suitable for younger readers, but there's nothing stopping adults from enjoying it as well. Recommended.

[grosbeak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun children's book - as always, DWJ brilliantly captures the frustration and petty feelings and fantasies of superiority and revenge that go along with being a child subject to irrational adult rules. Also never talks down to or underestimates her readership's ability to deal with history, language, and alien mores. The titular Wild Robert is exactly as arrogant and peremptory as one would expect a Jacobean aristocrat to be as he brings Heather's fantasies into reality, but there is no belaboring of a moral.

[Jean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun, but it feels like the prologue to a greater story - lots of set up that goes no where, and no real resolution. It works as a novella as long as you don't expect any more then that. The whole thing is pretty much a romp through the tropes of this particular story. It's short - easy enough to read in a few hours, even for a slow reader like me. If your a fan of the author I can't see a reason not to recommend it, but as a stand alone there isn't much to mention about it.

[Abigail H. Leskey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert reminds me of this http://hobbesdeep.tumblr.com/post/125... and this http://redreaperraven.deviantart.com/....

He's wild, and merry, and rather a darling, and hurt too. Also bonkers--who chases people with wrappers?

Content: D*** once, magic.

[Hemavathy DM Suppiah-Devi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing.
I'm such a DWJ fan, and was so excited to stumble upon a story if hers I had never read before. But it ends much too abruptly, and the reader is left with a sense of incompleteness.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

A dark and terribly truth covered in whimsy. I liked it, but it felt incomplete. Maybe the ending was too much to write.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this on two nights when I needed to read something to fall asleep but didn't have the brainpower for the things I was supposed to be reading. This was a fun little story. There's less of it than I expected, but given the concept and storyline, that's probably for the best.

[Roslyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

(2020 re-read): maybe 3.5?

[Josephine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-crafted and well-paced short story. Memorable characters with depth and development.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing Diana Wynne Jones is unusual, but this strange little story is disappointing in an odd way. It is set in a British stately home, Castlemaine, now managed by the British Trust (i.e. the National Trust, but not using the actual name), and the main character is the daughter of the house manager. Tired of the hordes of tourists, she calls out to Wild Robert, who was a member of the family who originally owned the house and grounds. He unexpectedly does turn up, and begins a series of practical jokes on the tourists.

After about 50 pages, it pretty much just stops; it reads as though there was no real ending that Jones could think of. Practical jokes tend to become old very quickly, of course, so some kind of plot should ensue, but there is nothing. What there is could be a promising start, but it's really hard to see how it got published as a standalone, when it's place is in a collection of unfinished tales.

[BookWormBear · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this short story but it is short. Just as it is getting good it ends and I would have liked to carry on read about how she helps wild Robert.

It does leave your imagination with plenty of space to make up your own stories but I just know that my imagination would never do justice to the story the author could have written.

That said it’s not often I come across books by this author I haven’t already read so I enjoyed it for that.

It is full of the usual clever young children, magic and some mayhem but with enough humour to keep you wanting more. I think it would make a lovely story time book for children and then get them to write their own story about what happens the next day.

[Sharni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heather lives in a stately home, her parents are the caretakers/tour guides. In summer, it is overrun with tourists and Heather is kind of over it. In an effort to find a private spot for herself, Heather finds herself in the woods, at the burial mound of Wild Robert - who lived long ago and was suspected of witchcraft. She wishes that he was here to make the tourist leave and well, famous last words.

This doesn’t quite feel like a complete story - it ends just as it’s getting really interesting, but what we have is rather fun and I’m glad to add it to my DWJ read pile.

[Godly Gadfly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Needs more to the story (2.5 stars)

The summary line says it all. This had potential: a children’s story where “Wild Robert” is brought from the past into modern times, and uses his fairy powers to create mischief. Sadly, despite the promising concept, the resulting story just didn’t live up to the potential.

[Natalie Rude · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is barely 100 pages long, so it makes for a quick read. It's a very fun story, but it stays on the surface level without delving too deeply in on any one character, including the titular one. I will say, though, this book is the perfect starting point for a DnD campaign. A fun, quick read!

[Kristyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun quick read. I love Diana Wynne Jones, and her stories often hint at characters with more stories yet to tell. I rather wish we could have learned a bit more about Wild Robert and what he did, but I'm content with the way the book ended.

[Emilie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read somewhere 'Wild Robert' felt like a half-finished piece, and I concur - in the sense that it feels like the first half of a much bigger story, one that never got completed. It would have been a good story, too. Still, a very nice little tale.

[Miri · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of Diana’s less well-known works seem to have a bittersweet ending…this one made me sad. Also it has a lot of clear overlap with Howl’s Moving Castle which is interesting - I think they were written around the same time

[Belinda Mellor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for younger readers. Based on real folklore, as many of DWJ’s books are. I’ve been revisiting her recently and realised this was one I hadn’t read. Thoroughly enjoyable and a masterclass in writing a gripping and fast-moving story for children.

[Liz Annabelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this over and over as a child. I think I was always hoping there'd suddenly be more to it.

[Mila · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is very cute. It also leaves you with a hunger for more though.

[Zackman · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's remarkable how much Diana Wynne Jones's style comes up even in her short works.

[Mandi Connell · Rating 4 out of 5]

So fun, but I wish it was longer

[Rose Aini · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a great story but was incomplete to me. :(