Fantasy · ThoughtfulIn 19th-century England during the Napoleonic Wars, magic returns through two magicians, Gilbert Norrell and Jonathan Strange
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Magic returns to Regency England, with footnotes
Bloomsbury published the novel in September 2004, and the hardcover has 782 pages. It is set in 19th-century England around the Napoleonic Wars. Gilbert Norrell is England's first practical magician in centuries, and Jonathan Strange is his pupil. The novel contains 185 footnotes that build an invented history of English magic. Clarke began writing it in 1992 and spent about ten years on it while working full-time as a cookbook editor. The BBC adapted it as a seven-part miniseries in 2015.
More about this book
Who
Gilbert Norrell, Jonathan Strange, Stephen Black, Lady Pole, Arabella Woodhope, John Childermass and Vinculus.
World
England in the early 19th century, around the Napoleonic Wars.
What makes it different
It has 185 footnotes. It won the Hugo, the World Fantasy Award and the Mythopoeic Award, and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
Feel
Dry and enchanting.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- Jonathan Strange & Mr NorrellWikipedia