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Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell Hardcover – September 8, 2004

by Susanna Clarke (Author)

11,926 ratings

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Hugo AwardWinner, 2005
Locus AwardWinner, 2005
World Fantasy AwardWinner, 2005

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In the Hugo-award winning, epic New York Times Bestseller and basis for the BBC miniseries, two men change England's history when they bring magic back into the world.

In the midst of the Napoleonic Wars in 1806, most people believe magic to have long since disappeared from England - until the reclusive Mr. Norrell reveals his powers and becomes an overnight celebrity.

Another practicing magician then emerges: the young and daring Jonathan Strange. He becomes Norrell's pupil, and the two join forces in the war against France.

But Strange is increasingly drawn to the wild, most perilous forms of magic, and he soon risks sacrificing his partnership with Norrell and everything else he holds dear.

Susanna Clarke's brilliant first novel is an utterly compelling epic tale of nineteenth-century England and the two magicians who, first as teacher and pupil and then as rivals, emerge to change its history.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It's 1808 and that Corsican upstart Napoleon is battering the English army and navy. Enter Mr. Norrell, a fusty but ambitious scholar from the Yorkshire countryside and the first practical magician in hundreds of years. What better way to demonstrate his revival of British magic than to change the course of the Napoleonic wars? Susanna Clarke's ingenious first novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, has the cleverness and lightness of touch of the Harry Potter series, but is less a fairy tale of good versus evil than a fantastic comedy of manners, complete with elaborate false footnotes, occasional period spellings, and a dense, lively mythology teeming beneath the narrative. Mr. Norrell moves to London to establish his influence in government circles, devising such powerful illusions as an 11-day blockade of French ports by English ships fabricated from rainwater. But however skillful his magic, his vanity provides an Achilles heel, and the differing ambitions of his more glamorous apprentice, Jonathan Strange, threaten to topple all that Mr. Norrell has achieved. A sparkling debut from Susanna Clarke--and it's not all fairy dust. --Regina Marler

From Publishers Weekly

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.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School - This delightful first novel exerts a strong and seductive pull on readers who might otherwise balk at its length. Like Philip Pullman's work, it is dark, deep, and challenging. It compares dead-on with Jane Austen's novels, and YAs who have underappreciated her wit may find it delicious when applied to magicians. Clarke even tosses in a bit of Dickens and Hardy - with great characterization, subplots, and a sense of fate bearing down hard on us. At stake is the future of English magic, which has nearly dwindled to all theory by the early 1800s, after centuries of prominence. When the book opens, only the reclusive and jealous Gilbert Norrell is practicing. Enter Jonathan Strange, a natural who has never studied magic formally. Norrell resents, then adopts Strange as a pupil whose growth he insists on controlling until the two come to the impasse that nearly leads them to destroy one another. Strange champions the 12th century's "Raven King" as the greatest magician in English history and hopes to summon him from Faerie, an alternate world. Norrell is determined to erase both from English memory - to hide the fact that he himself made a bargain with a fairy that has cost three people their lives, though their hearts go on dismally beating. Expertly written and imagined, the book is a feast for fans of fantasy, historical novels, or simply fabulously engrossing reads. - Emily Lloyd, formerly at Rehoboth Beach Public Library, DE
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The New Yorker

This vast début fantasy novel, cast somewhat in the Harry Potter mold, is set in early-nineteenth-century England, where two men, Gilbert Norrell and his pupil Jonathan Strange, revive the once-thriving practice of the dark arts. After aiding the British against Napoleon, the magicians fall out over interpretations of wizardly philosophy. Meanwhile, a malevolent fairy accidentally set loose by Norrell enchants, among others, Strange's wife. Clarke's ability to construct a fully imagined world—much of it explained in long, witty footnotes—is impressive, and there are some suspenseful moments. But her attempt to graft a fantasy narrative onto such historical realities as the Battle of Waterloo is more often awkward than clever, and the period dialogue is simply twee. Worse, the tension between the forces of good and evil—crucial in any magical tale—is surprisingly slack; the arch-villain is a cartoonish fop whose petulant misdeeds lack menace.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker

From Booklist

*Starred Review* It's surprising that this first novel works at all. Readers have to accept an especially fanciful premise but, as it quickly becomes obvious, acceptance presents no difficulty. This novel took 10 years to research and write, according to publicity material; for readers at least, the author's arduous task results in a smashing success--it's an exceptionally compelling, brilliantly creative, and historically fine-tuned piece of work. The brilliance of the novel lies in how Clarke so completely and believably creates a world within a world: the "outside" world being early-nineteenth-century England, as Napoleon the eagle looms over all of Europe; the "inner" world being the community of English magicians. At the story's outset, magic in the land is moribund; magicians, who convene in various convocations, "did not want to see magic done; they only wished to read about it in books." But circumstances arise that cause magic again to become manifest, not simply discussed as an academic subject; this resurrection has extensive consequences for the heretofore stately state of magic in the English realm. History and fantasy form a beautiful partnership in this detailed, authentic, and heartfelt novel, which is part fairy tale and part epic. The inner world it creates is completely furnished and credible; the outside world is exact in its accuracy. Written in a style correlative to the writing and speaking of the time, which the reader will come to find quite mellifluous, this novel is, in a word, charming. Comparisons to Harry Potter are inevitable but not distracting, for this novel stands on its own. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Absolutely compelling...the author captures the period and its literary conventtions with complete conviction. An astonishing achievement." -- Charles Palliser

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

About the Author

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. Piranesi was a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller, and shortlisted for the Costa Novel of the Year Award, the RSL Encore Award and the Women's Prize for Fiction. Susanna Clarke lives in Derbyshire.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury USA; First Edition (September 8, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 782 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1582344167
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1582344164
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.87 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.34 x 2.31 x 9.88 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #281,035 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,214 in Historical Fantasy (Books)
- #17,010 in Literary Fiction (Books)

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Susanna Clarke

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Susanna Mary Clarke (born 1 November 1959) is an English author best known for her debut novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004), a Hugo Award-winning alternative history. Clarke began Jonathan Strange in 1993 and worked on it during her spare time. For the next decade, she published short stories from the Strange universe, but it was not until 2003 that Bloomsbury bought her manuscript and began work on its publication. The novel became a best-seller.

Two years later, she published a collection of her short stories, The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories (2006). Both Clarke's novel and her short stories are set in a magical England and written in a pastiche of the styles of 19th-century writers such as Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. While Strange focuses on the relationship of two men, Jonathan Strange and Gilbert Norrell, the stories in Ladies focus on the power women gain through magic.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Patrick Nielsen Hayden from Brooklyn, New York (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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Customers find the book engaging and well-written, with rich characters and excellent world creation. They appreciate its humor, with one customer noting how cleverly amusing footnotes add to the reading experience. The book receives mixed feedback regarding its length and pacing, with some finding it impressive while others consider it too long and slow.

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665 customers mention "Story quality"562 positive103 negative

Customers find the story engaging and appreciate the novel's extraordinary detail, with one customer noting how the narrative is populated with real people, while another describes it as a very entertaining account of Napoleonic Britain and Europe.

"...that expound upon the history of magic in England, discussing magicians and magic of long ago, and adding layer upon layer upon the history of the..." Read more

"...of characters, and several of the less prominent ones are vivid and interesting, so Clarke mostly is able to distract from the lack of depth with a..." Read more

"...It whet my appetite to read more literary classics that inspired it, and it gave me a greater appreciation for a more intellectual style of writing...." Read more

"...His attitude throughout the whole novel is just delightful, and yet his appearance in any scene is enough to make your skin crawl...." Read more

494 customers mention "Readability"449 positive45 negative

Customers find the book to be a compelling read with a charming style that sustains interest.

"...but almost all of it ends ups tying into the many and satisfying payoffs at the conclusion of the novel...." Read more

"...It’s overall a good book, sometimes even very good, but a big time commitment." Read more

"...Jonathan Strange, on the other hand, is young, brash, and flashy; in his eyes, the boundaries of magic should be pushed with an almost reckless..." Read more

"...Clarke has crafted a beautiful novel that reads smoothly for the audience it's geared towards, while it may stump others who are used to the fast-..." Read more

349 customers mention "Writing quality"252 positive97 negative

Customers praise the writing quality of the book, noting its rich premise and style, with one customer highlighting how it perfectly captures British dry wit.

"...the story to build, and enjoy deeply layed narrative and great use of the English language, I highly recommend Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell...." Read more

"...It reads like Austen-- so if you're not into Austen, you most likely won't dig this book...." Read more

"...sweet and in-over-their-head Greysteels, Clarke creates more delicately detailed and compelling characters than most novelists manage in a whole..." Read more

"...was an interesting and enjoyable book (overall), it was a bit of a ponderous read...." Read more

210 customers mention "Character development"170 positive40 negative

Customers praise the character development in the book, noting that the characters are extraordinary, with one customer highlighting the author's skill at adopting voices from different historical periods.

"...slowly, admittedly, as the reader is introduced to a large cast of memorable characters, with the title duo joined by African-British butler Stephen..." Read more

"...That being said, there are quite a lot of characters, and several of the less prominent ones are vivid and interesting, so Clarke mostly is able to..." Read more

"...-head Greysteels, Clarke creates more delicately detailed and compelling characters than most novelists manage in a whole series of novels...." Read more

"...This gentleman, for me, was the most interesting character in the book. I do not see him as an antagonist (although I feel he is meant to be one)...." Read more

152 customers mention "Creativity"146 positive6 negative

Customers praise the book's creativity, particularly its excellent world creation and brilliant concept.

"One of the most ambitious and difficult novels I've ever had the pleasure of reading, Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is a mind-..." Read more

"...elements of this book, the prose, the characters, the environments and world building, are all well done...." Read more

"...Clarke is a gifted writer, and her world was so well-rounded that even when nothing much seemed to be happening in it, it was still a joy to..." Read more

"...But it's also probably one of the most original (if retrospectively obvious - you have to love that) and tangible fantasy/alternate history books I..." Read more

128 customers mention "Humor"117 positive11 negative

Customers enjoy the book's humor, finding it often witty with an ironic tone, and one customer notes how it's grounded in reality through cleverly amusing footnotes.

"...Clarke's writing is full of fantastic turns of phrases and a subtle poetic quality, combined with a dry and occasionally sarcastic humor...." Read more

"...But I loved the footnotes, and the overall tone of her prose. It’s overall a good book, sometimes even very good, but a big time commitment." Read more

"...Also, this book is so funny—the use of wry British dialogue brought a smile to my face every time a witty or self-depreciating aside was made...." Read more

"...Her jokes don't beat you over the head and are never inappropriately placed. Most of the laughs come from the very obvious jabs at English propriety...." Read more

165 customers mention "Length"54 positive111 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's length, with some appreciating its impressive size while others find it too long.

"...it, I have to be honest and say this book could've been cut by a good 200 pages and the story wouldn't have suffered. It's too long...." Read more

"...In addition to the large cast, S&N is peppered with footnotes that expound upon the history of magic in England, discussing magicians and magic of..." Read more

"...And I'm not faulting those people; this book is really, really long. It's easy to lose your patience with it...." Read more

"...It's a lengthy tome, to be sure, and full of the all the period nuances one could hope for..." Read more

137 customers mention "Pace"44 positive93 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's pace, with some finding it slow and plodding, while others note that the story begins slowly.

"...While the pacing does meander at times, it did not distract too heavily upon my ability to follow the story...." Read more

"...The story begins slowly, admittedly, as the reader is introduced to a large cast of memorable characters, with the title duo joined by African-..." Read more

"...So - This is not a fast-paced, action-packed adventure...." Read more

"...The opening chapters move very slowly, though things pick up by the early chapter in York Minster (where Mr. Norrell first works his magic), and..." Read more

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Gary Hoggatt
A deep, satisfying, and clever novel, if you have patience
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2011
Verified Purchase

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell ( S&N from here out), has been described as a fantasy novel, an alternative history novel, and a historical novel. I'm not too concerned about that, though, since this 2005 Hugo Award winner falls into the most important category of novels: good novels.

Set in early 19th century England, S&N opens in 1806, and carries the characters through the Napoleonic Wars and into 1816. The book assumes a history of magic in England that had died out centuries before the story begins, and the title characters (first Norrell and then Strange) become the first practicing magicians in centuries. The story follows their attempts to restore English magic (and figuring out what that even means in practice).

The story begins slowly, admittedly, as the reader is introduced to a large cast of memorable characters, with the title duo joined by African-British butler Stephen Black, Norrell's servant John Childermass, the ever-afflicted Lady Pole, gentlemen about town Henry Lascelles and Christopher Drawlight, and the mysterious fairy, the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair all being developed as well-rounded, believable, deep (if not all of them likeable) characters. Historical figures make appearances as well, most predominately and most enjoyably Duke Wellington and Lord Byron.

In addition to the large cast, S&N is peppered with footnotes that expound upon the history of magic in England, discussing magicians and magic of long ago, and adding layer upon layer upon the history of the real England. Looming over all of this history is the enigmatic Raven King, a magician who ruled northern England for centuries before disappearing and is credited with the creation of English magic.

As the novel progresses, the characters and the histories are drawn tighter and tighter together, and the pace of the novel picks up as the different pieces all fall into place. It may seem like a lot of characters and a lot of background, but almost all of it ends ups tying into the many and satisfying payoffs at the conclusion of the novel.

Besides the setting, plot, and characters, what really sets S&N apart is the language. Clarke's writing is full of fantastic turns of phrases and a subtle poetic quality, combined with a dry and occasionally sarcastic humor. Having recently re-read Charles Dickens' Great Expectations and Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, along with previously enjoying British novels of 19th century such as Frankenstein and Dracula, the prose manages to capture much of the feel of the time, and really makes the reader believe that this book could have been published in 1820, instead of 2004.

I listened to S&N on audio book, and Simon Prebble's reading was very strong. He carries off the old fashioned language as if it were the simplest thing in the world, and his voices for each character fit them perfectly.

If you have the patience to allow the story to build, and enjoy deeply layed narrative and great use of the English language, I highly recommend Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I'll leave you with two of my favorite examples of the language and themes in the novel.

- "'Can a magician kill a man by magic?' Lord Wellington asked Strange. Strange frowned. He seemed to dislike the question. 'I suppose a magician might,' he admitted, 'but a gentleman never could.'"

- "Poor Stephen was assailed by miracles."

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Gabby M
Mostly But Not Entirely Earns Its Length
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2025
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In an alternate history version of Britain, the Napoleonic Wars rage across Europe, Mad King George sits on the throne, and England has no magicians to help. It used to have them, a long time ago. One, the legendary John Uskglass, even established a separate kingdom in Northern England. There are still people who call themselves magicians, but they only study history and theory. They cannot perform magic. Until one day when an obscure country gentleman, Gilbert Norrell, makes the stone statutes of his local church come alive as an announcement that magic has returned to the land. He goes to London, eager to be useful in the war effort (and just as eager to receive the plaudits for so doing). He makes his name in the city by bringing back to life the fiancee of a government minister with the help of a fairy that he summons, the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair. He makes a bargain with the fairy for half the woman’s life, but as in many fairy tales, he is deceived. Emma Pole enjoys only a brief period of her revived life before the fairy comes to collect what is his, requiring her to attend balls in Faerie every night that leave her exhausted and dazed during the day, unable to fully function. Norrell is a cautious, proud, and miserly man, who jealously guards the secrets of his art. But even his hoarding of nearly every book of magic in England cannot prevent the rise of another magician, Jonathan Strange. Strange is about as different from Norrell as it is possible to be: younger, much more impulsive, intuitive, personable. When Jonathan and his wife Arabella come to London as well, one would think there would be a clash…but for a time, the magicians get on well together, with Norrell carefully doling out knowledge to the younger man. But when Strange is deployed to war under the command of Lord Wellington, developing his skills in the field, he no longer finds that he needs Norrell’s tutelage and the two quarrel. Magic, though, does not limit itself to what Norrell and Strange want, and the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair takes an active interest in the people of England that has devastating consequences. This novel is epic, sprawling, and ambitious. In its setting and scope, it evokes the great classics of the Napoleonic Wars: War & Peace, Vanity Fair, and The Count of Monte Cristo came to my mind as I read it. It’s a bold move to place your book among those, but Clarke brings her own take on events to the table. That said, it does not always achieve what it seems to be going for. Pacing is a real issue, with a very slow start and significant drag in the back half (which feels like it might be intended to set up the sequel Clarke was originally planning). For a book of this length, the character development is surprisingly thin. Strange is the most well-rounded one but the novel is not interior at all. That being said, there are quite a lot of characters, and several of the less prominent ones are vivid and interesting, so Clarke mostly is able to distract from the lack of depth with a well-populated world. I’m not sure how much I thought Clarke’s nods to Georgian/Regency-era writing (using “shew” instead of “show”, “suprize” instead of “surprise”, etc) are successful. I think the style she deploys calls to mind that era of writing well enough without those sort of things and I found it distracting as much as anything else. But I loved the footnotes, and the overall tone of her prose. It’s overall a good book, sometimes even very good, but a big time commitment.

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Lenore Di Kaat
Sólo para los más cometidos.
Reviewed in Mexico on July 5, 2023
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Este libro es una verdadera obra maestra. Yo lo tengo en mi top 10 de fantasía, junto con Babel de R.F. Kuang. La cosa es, si estás buscando acción, adrenalina y escenas súper impresionantes de combate con magia; no las vas a encontrar aquí. Este libro no es para todos (eso no quiere decir que no sea bueno), es más cómo una ficción histórica con magia para condimentar la narrativa; pero si son de los pacientes que deciden darle una oportunidad, no se van a arrepentir.

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Hugh Ashton
Gripping and esoteric
Reviewed in Japan on July 31, 2015
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A complete alternative world, with a history and traditions almost but not quite unlike the world we inhabit. A tour de force of the imagination. A book, in fact, that I wish I'd written.

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Lisbei13
Ensorcelant ...
Reviewed in France on July 12, 2006
Verified Purchase
... je trouve difficilement d'autres mos pour le décrire (ou alors "envoûtant", ou encore "fascinant")tant il est vrai que l'auteur de ce pavé doit avoir lancé un charme sur ses lecteurs pour les pousser à aller jusqu'à la dernière page des aventures de Jonathan Strange et de Mr Norrell. Enfin, quand je dis "aventures", je devrais peut-être plutôt dire "tribulations"; car enfin, ce millier de pages (dans l'édition broché, et qu'est-ce que ce sera en français !!!...)ne relate que fort peu de hauts faits héroïques, de cavalcades échevelées et de duels à l'aube. En revanche, les discussions interminables et académiques foisonnent, de même que les notes de bas de page, pour la plupart pseudo-bibliographique, qui arrivent parfois à tenir la majeure partie de plusieurs pages d'affilée pour une seule note ...

Et pourtant, malgré ces composantes en apparence assez peu passionnantes, on se prend au jeu et on suit avec intérêt l'ascension en cette Angleterre de début du 19ème siècle des deux hommes qui ont décidé de raviver la magie dans leur pays. Comme l'a souligné un des commentaires précédents, l'écriture fait très austennienne, avec son mélange de petites observations ironiques, d'humour so british et de leçons de savoir-vivre ... Finalement, tant qu'elle ne décale pas l'heure du thé, la magie peut avoir droit de cité chez les gens bien élevés ...

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Nandagopal S
Strangeite? No. Norrellite? No. Clarkeite? Yes!
Reviewed in India on July 23, 2017
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Susanna Clarke wastes no time in taking us to her version of 19th century England; a place, where magic is as commonplace as ballrooms and battles. And a part of that magic is imbibed in this story of hers, for it is otherwise difficult to explain the riveting nature of a 1000 page book.
The two well-written protagonists, Jonathan Strange and Gilbert Norrell, are the major vantage points of the reader to view this alternate reality, filled with fairies, ravens, and magical kings; through their conflicting views, we see both sides of the same coin. The other characters, though there are many, have their parts to play in the 'restoration of English magic'. In the end, it is their story as much as it is anybody else's.
The author, through footnotes and separate anecdotes, builds the world of the magicians and the worlds within them with beautiful prose and wonderful detail. Finally, when the last page is turned, one tends to hope for the return of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, as Childermass puts it, in another generation.

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Erinome
Fantastisch-kuriose Alternate History
Reviewed in Germany on July 25, 2010
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1807: Mr Norrell betritt die Bühne Londons und sorgt sofort für großes Aufsehen. Der pedantische und exzentrische Mann ist der einzige praktizierende Magier Britanniens und wacht eifersüchtig darüber, dass das auch so bleibt. Magie ist mittlerweile nur mehr eine theoretische Lehre, Norrells Talent schlägt also große Wellen und als er seine Fähigkeiten im Krieg gegen Napoleon einsetzt, ist ihm die Verehrung und Bewunderung der Massen sicher. Mr Norrell macht schließlich den überaus begabten und experimentierfreudigen Jonathan Strange zu seinem Schüler, der ihn beinahe überflügelt, und die beiden Männer feiern große Erfolge. Strange möchte aber seinen eigenen magischen Weg gehen, was ihn schließlich nicht nur von Norrell entfremdet sondern auch in große Gefahr bringt.

JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL ist ein wirklich großartiges Buch. Der Roman präsentiert eine äußerst clevere und vor allem glaubwürdige Alternate History, die so überzeugend ist, dass man sie ohne weiteres für wahr halten könnte. Insgesamt ist JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL so etwas wie eine Chronik des Wiederauflebens der Magie in England zu Beginn des 19. Jahrhunderts. Dieser Eindruck wird nicht nur durch die zahlreichen Fußnoten erweckt (man muss sie für das Verständnis des Buchs nicht unbedingt lesen, aber man versäumt so einige sehr skurrile und informative Fakten), sondern auch durch den Stil des Romans. Wer Action, wildes Schlachtengetümmel und hohes Tempo erwartet, der wird unweigerlich von dem Buch enttäuscht werden. Im Zentrum steht der Wiederaufbau der magischen Praxis in England und die Auswirkungen dieses Vorhabens auf die Figuren des Romans. Man könnte fast sagen, dass die Magie die Hauptrolle in JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL spielt. Neben Norrells und Stranges magischen Experimenten und ihren persönlichen Erlebnissen und Erfahrungen spielen auch die Fairies und ihr Rückkehrversuch nach England eine große Rolle.
Susannah Clarkes Stil gefällt mir sehr gut. Der Roman ist mit kuriosen und skurrilen Anekdoten und Begebenheiten gefüllt, die mich persönlich sehr angesprochen haben, und ein feiner Humor blitzt immer wieder auf. Ich finde außerdem, dass sie die latente Bedrohung durch die Fairies sehr effektiv und stimmungsvoll dargestellt hat und ein Panorama der Gesellschaft Englands erschaffen hat, das ohne weiteres aus einem Roman von Jane Austen entliehen sein könnte.
Wer heldenhafte und edle Hauptcharaktere bevorzugt, wird mit JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL keine große Freude haben. Strange und Norrell sind keine wirklich sympathischen Hauptfiguren. Sie haben beide zahlreiche Fehler, schlechte Angewohnheiten und Macken, was sie aber sehr lebensecht erscheinen lässt, wobei Strange insgesamt die zugänglichere Figur als Norrell ist. Die Nebenfiguren sind zahlreich und glaubwürdig ausgearbeitet und teilweise doch recht skurrile Charaktere. Im Verlauf des Romans treffen Strange und Norrell auch auf einige historische Persönlichkeiten, wie zum Beispiel den Duke of Wellington, Lord Liverpool oder gar König George III.
Alles in allem bin ich vollkommen begeistert von JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL. Wer eine Abwechslung von der üblichen Fantasy sucht und eine detailverliebte und stimmige Alternate History zu schätzen weiß, der wird bestimmt große Freude an dem Roman haben. Sehr, sehr empfehlenswert!

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Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell Hardcover – September 8, 2004

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Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell Review (20th Anniversary Hardcover)

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5.0 out of 5 stars A deep, satisfying, and clever novel, if you have patience

4.0 out of 5 stars Mostly But Not Entirely Earns Its Length

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars Sólo para los más cometidos.

5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping and esoteric

5.0 out of 5 stars Ensorcelant ...

5.0 out of 5 stars Strangeite? No. Norrellite? No. Clarkeite? Yes!

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastisch-kuriose Alternate History

A deep, satisfying, and clever novel, if you have patience

Mostly But Not Entirely Earns Its Length

Sólo para los más cometidos.

Gripping and esoteric

Ensorcelant ...

Strangeite? No. Norrellite? No. Clarkeite? Yes!

Fantastisch-kuriose Alternate History