Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

By: Susanna Clarke

Narrated by: Simon Prebble

Length: 32 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

English magicians were once the wonder of the known world, with fairy servants at their beck and call; they could command winds, mountains, and woods. But by the early 1800s they have long since lost the ability to perform magic. They can only write long, dull papers about it, while fairy servants are nothing but a fading memory.

But at Hurtfew Abbey in Yorkshire, the rich, reclusive Mr. Norrell has assembled a wonderful library of lost and forgotten books from England's magical past and regained some of the powers of England's magicians. He goes to London and raises a beautiful young woman from the dead. Soon he is lending his help to the government in the war against Napoleon Bonaparte, creating ghostly fleets of rain-ships to confuse and alarm the French.

All goes well until a rival magician appears. Jonathan Strange is handsome, charming, and talkative, the very opposite of Mr. Norrell. Strange thinks nothing of enduring the rigors of campaigning with Wellington's army and doing magic on battlefields. Astonished to find another practicing magician, Mr. Norrell accepts Strange as a pupil. But it soon becomes clear that their ideas of what English magic ought to be are very different. For Mr. Norrell, their power is something to be cautiously controlled, while Jonathan Strange will always be attracted to the wildest, most perilous forms of magic. He becomes fascinated by the ancient, shadowy figure of the Raven King, a child taken by fairies who became king of both England and Faerie, and the most legendary magician of all. Eventually Strange's heedless pursuit of long-forgotten magic threatens to destroy not only his partnership with Norrell, but everything that he holds dear.

Sophisticated, witty, and ingeniously convincing, Susanna Clarke's magisterial novel weaves magic into a flawlessly detailed vision of historical England. She has created a world so thoroughly enchanting that 32 hours leave readers longing for more.

©2004 Susanna Clarke (P)2004 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC, and Bloomsbury Publishing

Critic reviews

• Hugo Award Winner, Best Novel, 2005

• World Fantasy Award Winner, 2005

• Audie Award Finalist, Literary Fiction, 2005

"A smashing success....An exceptionally compelling, brilliantly creative, and historically fine-tuned piece of work." (Booklist)
"Extraordinary....Immersion in the mesmerizing story reveals its intimacy, humor, and insight, and will enchant readers of fantasy and literary fiction alike." (Publishers Weekly)
"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 welcomes herself into an exalted company of British writers - not only, some might argue, Dickens and Austen, but also the fantasy legends Kenneth Grahame and George MacDonald - as well as contemporary writers like Susan Cooper and Philip Pullman." (The New York Times Book Review)

Long but worth it!

This book is super long but it seemed to get better the further I listened. The narrator is fantastic!

A Strange Book :o)

This book is very good. An English fantasy based in the late 1700's and early 1800's where magic, magicians and faeries exist. The book has a very stuffy British flavor to it. It is an enjoyable story if you can get past a few slow parts due to describing detail and British dialog. Listen to the sample to get an idea but that is not the whole story.

Good story, a bit long

What did you like best about Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell? What did you like least?

The characters are great, nice story.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

When I started the book I loved the world and never wanted it to end, about half way through I thought it never would. The story needs an editor, you could cut at least 1/3 of the book out and never miss it.

What about Simon Prebble’s performance did you like?

Easy to listen to

Any additional comments?

Overall good story, I'm glad I listened to it.

Simply marvelous

This is a grand and exquisite work, well written and well read. It may not appeal to readers or listeners who require dramatic action around every corner. But to those who delight in the gradual unfolding of a rich and colorful tale it is treasure.

it was a good book mostly

Like the other reveiwers wrote the book was very long and in some parts very dry. The reader did a relatively good job though. But essentially it was no Harry Potter. The story line did have its interesting and intriuging parts. Maybe the author should have focused on writing about Jonathan Strage or John Usglas or maybe just the fairies themselves, and left out Gilbert Norrel and fake politics of "English Magic" altogether, but the author is British, the devil is in the details and if you like books that are dry and very Englishy try it out. If you want a really good book about a similiar subject written by an American more towards American taste get "Magic Street" by Orson Scott Card instead that one you'll love.

Overall, very enjoyable

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I loved the unique story, the characters, and especially the writing. But as I look back and think about the overall arc of the story I find myself wondering why it took 1000 pages. It was quite long considering how little actually happened. But, despite that, I really did enjoy it!! Susana Clarke really is a fantastic writer. And the reader did a wonderful job. I just think that for my particular reading style, this book might be better in print form.

Harry Potter for adults

Dare I say, Enchanting read?
The plot is quite clever and convoluted, dropping hints that help in the resolution throughout the book in a way that becomes quite satisfying at the end. It is somewhat slow at the outset because the first characters we meet are minor and tedious. Even Mr. Norrell is rather a pedant and a bore, so it is really once Jonathan Strange enters the scene that it picks up. Interestingly, this is part of the point: Strange is the flashy magician who enjoys a good spectacle, whereas Norrell is a fuddy-duddy who would rather wear spectacles than watch one.
The interweaving of history--British Prime Ministers, Napoleonic wars, Mad King George--make for some good historical fun.
Clarke writes with an awareness of Jane Austen and George Eliot. Indeed, she seems to be mocking the tone of these authors by echoing it with an ironic edge. Sometimes that cleverness gets away with her and the result becomes tedious, but on the whole it works very well. Far more entertaining than Middlemarch ever was.

I love it!!

All the charm of British period novels, mixed with romantic ideas of very exciting magic.

Fantastic

Absolutely one of my favorite books. I read it ages ago, and thought to listen to it this time. The performance was wonderful. I'm sorry it's over and wish there would be a sequel.

Should have been written as two books..

Should have been written as two books.or edited down about 20%. It’s an interesting and original story . It is performed so well by the reader it gets you through the over-written bits.