A Matter of Magic, by Patricia C. Wrede, is an omnibus of two juvenile novels, Mairelon the Magician and The Magician’s Ward. Jane picked the two separate volumes up at the library recently, and Jane, James (my 11-year-old son), and I were all thoroughly charmed.

Both books are set in an alternate Regency England in which the Royal College of Wizards has its chambers in a fine building across the Thames from Westminster Abbey. (Yes, the same setting is used in Sorcery and Cecilia and The Misplaced Magician.)

In the first book, our hero, Kim, is a girl street-thief masquerading as a boy who is commissioned by a “toff” to break into the wagon of a street performer named Mairelon the Magician looking for a particular silver bowl. She’s caught, of course; Mairelon isn’t simply a performer, by a leading member of the Royal College undercover. He’s intrigued by Kim, and (much to the misgivings of his servant, Hunch) takes her on as his assistant. What develops from there is not so much a mystery as an utterly charming P.G. Wodehouse-style farce involving the silver bowl, four magic spheres, any number of silver platters, lordlings, criminals, good wizards, evil wizards, and surprises galore, at the end of which Mairelon adopts Kim as his ward and apprentice. (No surprises there.) I especially enjoy Kim’s speech; Wrede has Regency-era “thieve’s cant” down pat.

Turns out that Mairelon is rather a “toff” himself, and in the second book Kim has to begin to cope with that. After a year with Mairelon she’s now seventeen, and must begin thinking about “coming out” to society, with all of the balls, visiting, fine clothes, and so forth that that entails. She’s not at all keen on it, and Mairelon’s not inclined to press…until it is pointed out that as a wizard Kim is anyone’s equal, and must be seen as such. Coupled with this Eliza Doolittle story is really quite a fine mystery, a who-and-how dunnit that works not only as a mystery but also depends for its effect on the magical system of Wrede’s world. The farcical aspects are lacking, but the book is no less charming (or funny) for all that.

The books are juveniles, and not particularly “gritty”; however, Kim does live in London’s underbelly, and so there are references to prostitutes and the like as part of the background. Though I rather wish Wrede had left them out, the references are careful; kids who already know what she’s talking about it will know what’s she’s talking about, and kids who don’t won’t. These books were written in the 1990’s; how things have changed since I was young!

A note for those who find the standalone volumes rather than the omnibus: the editions we read, at any rate, have some of the most misleading cover illustrations and blurbs I’ve seen in a long time. The second is particularly bad; the illustration looks vaguely Wild West rather than Regency England. Don’t be put off; this is good stuff.