Susanna Clarke

Susanna Clarke is a British author whose fiction combines literary sophistication with a deep love of English magic, history, and folklore. She is one of the most distinctive and admired writers working in fantasy today, though her output is small — she has published just two novels and a short story collection — each one is a remarkable achievement. Born in Nottingham in 1959, Clarke grew up in a family of clergymen and studied PPE (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics) at St Hilda's College, Oxford. She worked in various publishing and editing roles, including a stint at the cookery publisher Quarto, before dedicating herself to fiction. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, published in 2004, was a sensation. The novel — set in an alternative early nineteenth-century England where magic once existed but has faded — follows two magicians who attempt to restore English magic during the Napoleonic Wars. The book is written in a style that deliberately echoes Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, with elaborate footnotes, dry humour, and a narrative voice of exquisite elegance. It won the Hugo Award, the World Fantasy Award, and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel Award. It was later adapted into a BBC television series. Clarke's short story collection, The Ladies of Grace Adieu, expanded the world of her debut with stories set in the same magical England. The tales are atmospheric, witty, and steeped in English folklore. Piranesi, published in 2020, was a very different kind of novel — a slim, dreamlike mystery set in an infinite house of marble halls and tidal oceans. The book won the Women's Prize for Fiction and was universally praised for its originality, its beauty, and the emotional revelation at its heart. Clarke wrote it while dealing with chronic fatigue syndrome, and its themes of imprisonment, wonder, and liberation carry a particular resonance. The audiobook editions of both Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and Piranesi have been widely praised. The former is a substantial and rewarding listen, while Piranesi — shorter and more intimate — is a perfect audiobook experience, its mysterious, luminous quality beautifully served by the audio format. Susanna Clarke lives in Derbyshire. Her books and audiobooks are essential for anyone who loves fiction that is original, exquisitely crafted, and infused with the conviction that the world is stranger and more wonderful than we usually allow ourselves to believe.