Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

I am going to be honest I saw the anime first and noticed that it was based on a book and that's how I decided to read the book. Although I can honestly say the book is much better than the movie. The movie tones down Howl and Sophie's unfavorable personality traits and makes the film much more lighthearted than the book.

The book starts out with some introductory to Ingary, the Hatter family, and the rumors about Howl and the Witch of the Waste. Sophie has what I like to refer to as First Child Syndrome. She basically functions as a third parent for her two younger sisters and is terrified of failing because she has been told that if she were to set out and seek her fortune she will not succeed. The book references a lot of fairy tale tropes only to turn them on their head.

Through a series of events Sophie gets turned into an old woman by the Witch of the Waste. Deciding that it really can't get any worse Sophie sets out to seek her fortune and adventure. She ends up finding the moving castle of the "evil" Wizard Howl and there she meets his fire demon Calcifer and strikes a deal with him. If she can free him from the contract he has made with Howl he will return her to normal. Sophie then inserts herself into the lives of the occupants of the moving castle has "Grandma Sophie" the cleaning lady. She befriends Michael (Markl in the movie) Howl's teenage assistant and student who is responsible for the majority of the work "Wizard Howl" does and she has an odd love-hate relationship with the Wizard Howl himself. Throughout the book Sophie learns that the "castle" is actually in three places at once and it's all to help Howl avoid the Witch of the Waste and her curse she put on him because "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned".

So now Sophie has a deadline, free Calcifer and Howl from their contract before the Witch of the Waste's curse takes effect and she also has to deal with her sister's Martha and Lettie who have switched places and are both being called Lettie for the time being and one sister is in love with Michael and Howl is trying to capture the heart of the other, but that Lettie is in love with a man who keeps turning into different dogs and can't seem to stay human. And then there's the fact Sophie learns she herself has magic and is a powerful witch. What's poor Sophie going to do?