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Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

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What to expect

Bloomsbury presents Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, read by Richard Armitage with Neil Gaiman and an introduction by V E Schwab.

The 20th anniversary edition of the fantasy classic.

The book I wish I'd written’ R F Kuang
‘Susanna Clarke writes with an intelligence and beauty that seems at times miraculous’ Katherine Rundell

1806. England is beleaguered by the long war, and centuries have passed since magicians faded from view. But one remains: the reclusive Mr Norrell. Proceeding to London, he raises a woman from the dead and summons an army of ghostly ships to terrify the French.

Yet the cautious Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician. Young, handsome and daring, Jonathan Strange is his very antithesis. So begins a dangerous battle between these two great men – which overwhelms that between England and France. And soon their own secret dabblings with the dark arts are going to cause more trouble than they can imagine…

'Like Hilary Mantel, Clarke has made the very notion of genre seem quaint' Guardian

Critics Review

Clarke creates a world beyond our wildest imagination that also tells us something profound about what it is to be human
BERNARDINE EVARISTO
This is a great huge long book that will change your life ... One of my all-time favourite books
ANN PATCHETT
A modern masterpiece ... It is that rare beast, a cult novel that is also a mainstream smash hit and continues to beguile its legions of readers to the present day … An indelible, fascinating story, one to lose oneself in for days, even weeks
SPECTATOR
What a world Susanna Clarke conjures into being
DAVID MITCHELL
A miraculous and luminous feat of storytelling
MADELINE MILLER
Clarke’s imagination is prodigious, her pacing masterly
NEW YORK TIMES
One of the greatest and most interesting writers of fantasy in the past hundred years or more
TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
Full of epic sweep and intimate human drama … An imaginative treat
DAILY TELEGRAPH
Many books are to be read, and a few are meant to be lived in for weeks. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is of this last kind
WASHINGTON POST
Purely joyful reading
NAOMI ALDERMAN
Ravishing ... Combines the dark mythology of fantasy with the delicious social comedy of Jane Austen into a masterpiece that rivals Tolkien
TIME
Admirably inventive, frequently delightful
MICHEL FABER
Feels unduly classical and nostalgic and yet timeless at the very same time and it has, at the heart of it, that thing which every truly great novel needs: a brilliant story … I adored this book
GUARDIAN
A triumph of imaginative storytelling
IRISH TIMES

User Reviews

Book 4.6
Narration 5.0
Author Susanna Clarke
Narrator Neil Gaiman, Richard Armitage, V.E. Schwab
Duration 36 hours and 35 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781526677181
Format Audiobook
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing
Genre Fantasy, Fiction: general and literary, Historical fantasy, Historical fiction, Modern and contemporary fiction
Availability AU, GB, IE
Rating
4.6 (10 reviews)
Narration
5.0 (10 reviews)

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