Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Softcover

Clarke, Susanna

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1620409909 ISBN 13: 9781620409909

Publisher: Bloomsbury Pub Plc USA, 2015

Synopsis

At the dawn of the nineteenth century, two very different magicians emerge to change England's history. In the year 1806, with the Napoleonic Wars raging on land and sea, most people believe magic to be long dead in England--until the reclusive Mr. Norrell reveals his powers, and becomes a celebrity overnight.

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. He becomes Norrell's student, and they join forces in the war against France. But Strange is increasingly drawn to the wildest, most perilous forms of magic, straining his partnership with Norrell, and putting at risk everything else he holds dear.

Time #1 Book of the Year
Book Sense Book of the Year
People Top Ten Books of the Year
Winner of the Hugo Award
New York Times Notable Book of the Year
Salon.com Top Ten of 2004
Winner of the World Fantasy Award
Nancy Pearl's Top 12 Books of 2004
Washington Post Book World's Best of 2004
Christian Science Monitor Best Fiction 2004
San Francisco Chronicle Best Books of 2004
Winner of the Locus Award for Best First Novel
Chicago Tribune Best of 2004
Seattle Times 25 Best Books of 2004
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Top 12 Books of 2004
Village Voice "Top Shelf"
Raleigh News & Observer Best of 2004
Rocky Mountain News critics' favorites of 2004

About this title

Review:

Any book touted as the ‘adult Harry Potter’ runs the risk of attracting critical parries from swords of the double-edged variety. If this wasn’t enough, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell--the debut novel from Susanna Clarke--also invites comparisons with Jane Austen. Set in the early nineteenth-century, the action moves from genteel drawing rooms—albeit where a mischievous Faerie king sips tea with the wife of a very human government minister, to the bloody battleground of Waterloo, where giant hands of earth drag men to their doom. The juxtaposition of perfectly realised magical worlds and the everyday one with which JK Rowling and Philip Pullman so successfully captured our imaginations and the social comedy of Austen and Thackeray can easily be recognised. But less easy to pastiche is the ability of these writers to induce sheer narrative pleasure, and it is Clarke’s great achievement that she succeeds with this hugely enjoyable read. Gilbert Norrell is determined to single-handedly rehabilitate his sanitised and patriotic version of English magic, which has suffered a post-Enlightenment neglect after a richly dark history. He ruthlessly secures his place as England’s only magician in two marvellously drawn feats. First, he brings the statutes of York Cathedral to life and then, to facilitate his entry into London society, he brings a young bride-to-be back from the dead--a feat with terrible consequences. However, another more naturally gifted magician—Jonathan Strange—emerges to become his pupil and later his rival. Strange becomes increasingly obsessed with the Raven King—the medieval lord-magician of the North of England and pursues his desire to recruit a fairy servant to the edge of madness. Whilst the differing characters of Norrell and Strange give the book a central human conflict, it is the tension between the dual natures of civilised and wilder magic that lends it a metaphysical texture that shades the narrative with wonderful and troubling descriptions of ships made of rain, paths between mirrors and faerie roads leading out of England to a bleak yet dazzling realm. Fortunately, the precision of her storytelling never reigns in Clarke’s prodigious imagination. Clarke’s broad canvas of characters—including Wellington, Napoleon and Bryon, locations and tones are masterfully realised. However, sometimes her own enchantment with them leads her to drop her pace, although even at almost 800 pages, this is a book to which you’ll muster up little resistance. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is the perfect novel to take up residence in as the nights get longer. -- Fiona Buckland -- This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review:

"Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is unquestionably the finest English novel of the fantastic written in the last seventy years." --Neil Gaiman

"Ravishing . . . 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 humor in the service of majesty." --Gregory Maguire, The New York Times Book Review

"Magnificent and original." --Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

"Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is unquestionably the finest English novel of the fantastic written in the last seventy years." --Neil Gaiman

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Pub Plc USA
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1620409909
• ISBN 13: 9781620409909
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 1006
• Illustrator: Rosenberg Portia