The return to the world of Strange & Norrell sadly fails to live up to expectations.
Susanna Clarke has very few books to her name. In fact her only full-length novel is Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell which she followed up with a series of short stories set in the same world, called The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories. Despite being set in the world of Strange & Norrell it mostly doesn’t involve her very popular protagonists.
It’s certainly not the same calibre of excellence either and is difficult to recommend except possibly for the most diehard Strange and Norrell enthusiasts, but read on and I’ll explain exactly why.
What you need to know about The Ladies of GraceAdieu
| Length | 256 pages |
| Series | Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (this is not a sequel but is standalone set in the same universe) |
| Number in series | 1 |
| Author | Suzanna Clarke |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury |
| Publication date | 3rd September 2007 |
| Target Age | Adult |
| Genre | Historical fantasy |
| Themes | Magic, mysteries, fairies |
| Complexity | The language is clever, but usually not difficult to read except in one story which switches to old English making it a challenging read. |
| Spice (out of 5) | 🌶️ – There’s no spice content of note in this book. |
| Potential trigger warnings | One person is killed by being cut in half, but there are no gory details described as part of this (it is magical in nature). People are held hostage against their will and live in squalor as a result. Some hostages have their minds influenced so that they feel kindly towards their captors. |
What’s it about?
The Ladies of Grace Adieu is a collection of 8 short stories (some as short as 10 pages long) set in the alternative historical fantasy world of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. If you’re familiar with Clarke’s former writing, it’s a bit like she turned some of her footnotes into fully fledged stories. In fact, it feels very much like a historian has pulled together a collection of magical stories to understand more about the nature of the magical world.
Because of this, we are treated to different characters in different periods of time. This includes a few returning characters like the Duke of Wellington, the Raven King and Jonathan Strange himself.
Build up is usually slow
This is not new for Clarke’s writing, and in my opinion, not necessarily a bad thing. I enjoyed Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell’s slow build up and the way the world slowly drew me. But every time you start a new story, you must grapple with getting to know new characters and sadly, these characters mostly failed to interest me. Too many quaint little village settings where not much usually happens meant the majority of the build up (which is generally the majority of each story) felt like a bit of a slog.
One story written in older English is especially dull to read
One of the stories is a retelling of an actual tale written centuries ago and uses old English to convey this. Kudos to Clarke for trying something a bit different, but the use of old English just meant that I read at a slower pace through a story that I really wasn’t that interested in.
The offending story is “On Lickerish Hill” and is essentially an alternative form of Rumpelstiltskin. If this were truly a collection of texts on possible occurrences of magic, this would make sense as an inclusion, but as a story to engage and interest a modern reader, it’s dull and drags on longer than it really should.
Sometimes the twists at the end were satisfying
But not enough to trawl through the buildup. This was especially the case for Mrs Mabb which has a decent premise and a great conclusion, but the buildup feels a bit like Groundhog Day where the same things are repeated with slight variations over dozens of pages.
A couple of later stories do buck the trend
However, it’s not all bad or inconsequential. There were 2 stories that I quite enjoyed where the characters felt interesting, the problems well detailed and created a great exploration into the minds and quirks of fairies. These were the stories of Mr Simonelli and Tom Brightwind.
In many respects, they relate nicely to the events in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, not because they’re directly linked, but because they help you better grasp the quirks and callousness of fairies. I enjoyed both and if you desperately want to spend more time in Clarke’s fantasy world, but want to skip the more dull stories, these are the ones to jump to.
Conclusion
I’m a big fan of Clarke’s other work (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and Piranesi). Unfortunately, even as a fan, I find it hard to recommend the Ladies of Grace Adieu. While a couple of stories are worth the read, they can’t save what is, for the most part, lots of dull build up for some slight reward at the end.
4/10