Diana Wynne Jones who died last Friday was writing about an imaginary Wolvercote in a parallel universe yonks before Philip Pullman set an entrance to a parallel Oxford in Sunderland Avenue. She lived in Oxford for many years.
"Charmed Life" is a fantasy about an orphan boy living in a magical Wolvercote, where his parents drowned in the river. He is sent to a strange big house where he is taught magic by sorcerers ( sounds familiar? Predates H. Potter by 15 years). "The Wolvercote Warlock" is a story about a no good member of a Wolvercote coven who comes to grief.
The obituaries somehow fail to mention the Wolvercote connection
Lorna
