Piper Nuelle

I have always loved to read. As a child I would highly anticipate and look forward to receiving any pocket money and putting it to good use by purchasing a ‘Charmed’ book from my local book store. ‘Charmed’ was a huge hit television show from back in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s and consisted of three sister witches, Prue, Piper and Phoebe Halliwell – Later also a fourth sister witch or half sister witch, Paige Matthews, who come into their magical powers in adulthood and are thrust into a world of magic, demons and witchcraft.

The oldest book in my personal collection, that I own from my childhood is the first book in the series based on the Charmed television show and it is named, ‘The Power Of Three‘. It is basically in its purest form, a novelisation of the first ever episode and brings to life the magic of the show into a small, pocket sized book.

It follows Prue and Piper as they return to their family home after the death of their beloved Grams. It’s a stormy night and the three sisters are reconnected after being apart due to a family feud when Phoebe also arrives to move back home too. The power goes out and they come across their old spirit board when hunting for the fuse box in the basement. Phoebe uses the spirit board to make Piper smile, but an actual spirit communicates that they need to go into the locked attic!

Prue and Phoebe’s relationship is sparse and on the rocks, their sisterly bond severed by the betrayal of a man, and Piper is stuck in the middle, so when Phoebe goes to the attic she is alone and comes across the magical tome that is ‘The book of shadows‘ and accidently says out loud a magical incantation to unlock the girl dormant powers. Once unlocked it is revealed that Prue can move things with her mind, Piper can freeze time and Phoebe can see the future.

Unfortunately for them a Warlock is on the hunt for them and their powers and gets close to the girls by pretending to be someone they are not. A fight ensues and the girls defeat the Warlock with ‘The Power Of Three‘ spell. And thus begins their life long battle of good vs evil. Short sweet and to the point, yet it brings back so many memories.

I have read this book so much that the pages are fragile and are threatening to fall from the spine and the glued binding, the fore-edge is yellowing with age, the cover has dents, marks and scratches on it from years of use, moving houses on a few occasions and even my kids reading it.

These books for me as a child were an escape from the stresses of everyday life, I was bullied relentlessly at school, my mum was a single mum who worked all the time and I had to look after my sibling and my dad was an A-hole who ignored me and went on to love and care for my step-sibling. I know in comparison these are kind of average now for kids, and that it doesn’t make me special in any way, but… These books really helped me during times I was feeling low, sad, depressed, abandoned and unwanted by the world. In my head I had three sisters looking out for me, one of which shares my name (Piper… hehe) and used to protect me with their magical powers, their whit and charm, and there unbound love for their sisterhood.

The books in the series are not the most detailed or in depth books, you can easily read them in a day with their larger writing, short book size and very simple storylines, but… They were simple and easy to follow, they were great for a child or pre-teen or even a teenager who wanted to read but also go outside to play with their friends, they didn’t take months to read and enjoy.

I actually have the whole collection of Charmed books, bar I think one which is a companion to the actual television episodes, but other than that, I own all the novelisations of the tv show and have had years of fun reading them, but also letting my kids read and enjoy them after me. Maybe one day I will do a blog post showing you the whole collection and… I even have a replica of the Charmed ‘Book of Shadows’. That too is for another blog post!!!

What is your oldest book you own? How long have you had it? This book was printed back in 1999, so it’s 27 years old!!! And it has survived being read multiple times, by multiple people in my family. It has survived moving house multiple times over the years and even survived an accidental dip in the bathtub when I read it in my teenage years. Yes, I do remember doing that and being horrified. I was going to buy a replacement due to it being… Tainted by water! But, I wanted the next one in the series and couldn’t bare to not use my money to get the next one. God I miss those days of buying the next book in the series being one of my only huge worries…

Hope you liked my blog post. See ya later. And remember, what is your oldest book in your collection?

Love Xo Piper Xo