Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

"A gorgeous book of unforgettable images."—People

"What kind of magic can make an 800-page novel seem too short? Whatever it is, debut author Susanna Clarke is possessed by it."—USA Today

"Combines the dark, wild spirit of English fantasy with the grand wit and high style of the 19th-century social novel . . . A grand performance—and the most sparkling literary debut of the year."—Laura Miller, Salon

"This book delivers splendid and unpredictable surprises . . . [It] also contrives witty interactions between its characters and real, renowned figures of the period . . . [Clarke presents] a brand new fantasy world, an intricate and fully imagined universe of bewitching tricks."—Janet Maslin, The New York Times

"I admire Susanna Clarke's imaginative dexterity and deeply enjoyed Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell . . . [This book is] magnificent and original, and that should be enough for any of us."—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post Book World

"The drawing-room social comedies of early 19th-century Britain are infused with the powerful forces of English folklore and fantasy in this extraordinary novel of two magicians who attempt to restore English magic in the age of Napoleon. In Clarke's world, gentlemen scholars pore over the magical history of England, which is dominated by the Raven King, a human who mastered magic from the lands of faerie. The study is purely theoretical until Mr. Norrell, a reclusive, mistrustful bookworm, reveals that he is capable of producing magic and becomes the toast of London society, while an impetuous young aristocrat named Jonathan Strange tumbles into the practice, too, and finds himself quickly mastering it. Though irritated by the reticent Norrell, Strange becomes the magician's first pupil, and the British government is soon using their skills. Mr. Strange serves under Wellington in the Napoleonic Wars (in a series of wonderful historical scenes), but afterward the younger magician finds himself unable to accept Norrell's restrictive views of magic's proper place and sets out to create a new age of magic by himself. Clarke manages to portray magic as both a believably complex and tedious labor, and an eerie world of signs and wonders where every object may have secret meaning. London politics and talking stones are portrayed with equal realism and seem indisputably part of the same England, as signs indicate that the Raven King may return. The chock-full, old-fashioned narrative (supplemented with deft footnotes to fill in the ignorant reader on incidents in magical history) may seem a bit stiff and mannered at first, but immersion in the mesmerizing story reveals its intimacy, humor, and insight, and will enchant readers of fantasy and literary fiction alike."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Rival magicians square off to display and match their powers in an extravagant historical fantasy . . . English author Clarke's spectacular debut is something far richer than [Harry] Potter: an absorbing tale of vaulting ambition and mortal conflict steeped in folklore and legend, enlivened by subtle characterizations and wittily congenial omniscient authorial presence . . . Clarke sprinkles her radiantly readable text with faux-scholarly (and often hilarious) footnotes while building an elaborate plot that takes Strange through military glory, unsuccessful attempts to cure England's mad king, travel to Venice and a meeting with Lord Byron, and on a perilous pursuit of the fabled Raven King, former ruler of England, into the world of Faerie, and Hell. There's nothing in Tolkein, Mervyn Peake, or any of their peers that surpasses the power with which Clarke evokes this fabulous figure's tangled 'history.' The climax, in which Strange and Norrell conspire to summon the King, arrives—for all the book's enormous length—all too soon. An instant classic, one of the finest fantasies ever written."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)