Publisher Description

OVER 4 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDEShortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Guardian First Book Award; longlisted for the Man Booker Prize'Unquestionably the finest English novel of the fantastic written in the last seventy years ... Funny, moving, scary, otherworldly, practical and magical' NEIL GAIMANThe year is 1806. centuries have passed since practical magicians faded into the nation's past. But scholars of this glorious history discover that one remains: the reclusive Mr Norrell, whose displays of magic send a thrill through the country.Proceeding to London, he raises a beautiful woman from the dead and summons an army of ghostly ships to terrify the French. Yet the cautious, fussy Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician: the brilliant novice Jonathan Strange. Young, handsome and daring, Strange is the very antithesis of Norrell.So begins a dangerous battle between these two great men which overwhelms that between England and France. And their own obsessions and secret dabblings with the dark arts are going to cause more trouble than they can imagine.

Notes

An elegant and witty historical fantasy featuring two nineteenth century magicians fighting Napoleon's advancing army, as well as each other. "A nourishing, 19th century-style novel that will warm readers through any number of dark and stormy nights" Daily Telegraph

Author Biography

Susanna Clarke's debut novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell was first published in more than 34 countries and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Guardian First Book Award. It won British Book Awards Newcomer of the Year, the Hugo Award and the World Fantasy Award in 2005. The Ladies of Grace Adieu, a collection of short stories, some set in the world of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, was published by Bloomsbury in 2006. Her second novel, Piranesi, published in 2020 and was an immediate Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller, and was shortlisted for the Women's Prize. She lives in Derbyshire.

Review

Unquestionably the finest English novel of the fantastic written in the last seventy years -- NEIL GAIMAN
With all of the whimsy, spark and imagination of Harry Potter and the dry, well-observed wit of Neil Gaiman, Susanna Clarke perfectly conveys all that can be brilliant about British literature and manages to be refreshingly different from either * GUARDIAN *
A highly original and compelling work * SUNDAY TIMES *
Many books are to be read, some are to be studied, and a few are meant to be lived in for weeks. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is of this last kind * WASHINGTON POST *
Full of epic sweep and intimate human drama … An imaginative treat * DAILY TELEGRAPH *
Ravishing ... superb ... Combines the dark mythology of fantasy with the delicious social comedy of Jane Austen into a masterpiece of the genre that rivals Tolkien * TIME *
Clarke's imagination is prodigious, her pacing is masterly and she knows how to employ dry humour in the service of majesty … Clarke's giddiness comes from finding a way at once to enter the company of her literary heroes, to pay them homage and to add to the literature, to slot this big fat book into our own libraries of spells. In this fantasy, the master that magic serves is reverence for writing * NEW YORK TIMES *
An elegant and witty historical fantasy which deserves to be judged on its own (considerable) merit * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *
It is packed with neat, deft touches; peopled with an intriguing and varied supporting cast; linguistically and socially utterly authentic in its evocation of its idiosyncratic version of its chosen era; movingly redolent of the author's affection for both her protagonists; and builds to a resolution that satisfies both logically and poetically * INDEPENDENT *
A sprawling saga about 19th-century frenemy magicians who revive the art of "practical magic" after years of its being merely an academic pursuit … It's also a book wherein storytelling helps make the meaning: Clarke's pastiche of period styles accentuates her commentary on English identity, and hundreds of footnotes chronicle the history of magic. It's the novel Hogwarts-lit nerds read during their postmodern Pynchon phase * ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY *
Dazzling, witty and gleefully entertaining … A triumph … this is an energetic, engaging and inventive tale that simply kidnaps the lucky reader to participate in a rare experience * IRISH TIMES *
It is, as benefits a novel about two rival magicians, spellbinding…This is masterful, brilliantly paced storytelling…prodigiously imagined, elegantly witty, superbly crafted * SCOTSMAN *

Promotional

OVER 4 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE Shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Guardian First Book Award Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize

Prizes

Winner of British Book Awards: Newcomer of the Year 2005
Winner of Hugo Award: Novel Category 2005

Long Description

Two magicians shall appear in England. The first shall fear me; the second shall long to behold me. ....The year is 1806. England is beleaguered by the long war with Napoleon, and centuries have passed since practical magicians faded into the nation's past. But scholars of this glorious history discover that one remains: the reclusive Mr Norrell whose displays of magic send a thrill through the country. Proceeding to London, he raises a beautiful woman from the dead and summons an army of ghostly ships to terrify the French. Yet the cautious, fussy Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician: the brilliant novice Jonathan Strange. Young, handsome and daring, Strange is the very opposite of Norrell. So begins a dangerous battle between these two great men, which overwhelms the one between England and France. And their own obsessions and secret dabblings with the dark arts are going to cause more trouble than they can imagine.

Review Quote

'This is, in both the precise and the colloquial sense, a fabulous book ...; a highly original and compelling work'

Promotional "Headline"

OVER 4 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE Shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Guardian First Book Award Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize

Details