No, not Harry Potter, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susannah Clark. My friend Amanda recommended it and I got it out of the library. If you’re looking for something to read, you might add this to your list. It’s not a gripping page-turner (a good thing for my family since it’s over 700 pages long), and except for the last hundred or so pages, it doesn’t leave you on the edge of your seat, but it has much to recommend it anyway. The writing style is very dry and witty in that oh-so-reserved English way, and I found myself chuckling numerous times throughout. An example:
Childermass inquired drily if Mr. Norrell wished him to seek out architecture expressive of the proposition that magic was as respectable as the Church?
Mr. Norrell (who knew there were such things as jokes in the world or people would not write about them in books, but who had never actually been introduced to a joke or shaken its hand) considered a while before replying at last that no, he did not think they could quite claim that. (p. 40-41)
What is it about? It’s about an imaginary 18th century England (Jane Austen’s time again) where history is much the same as our version, but modified by the existence of a long standing effective English magic, recently fallen into disuse and disrepair. Mr. Norrell, and his student Mr. Strange attempt to bring magic back to England – the drama is brought by the abduction of ladies by crazy fairies, the Napoleanic wars, and the mysterious influence of the gone, but not dead, Raven King.
Awesome, Elly! …would you mind posting that as a review on Exodusbooks?
Um, sure!
I just finished this book myself and found it absolutely engrossing, I can’t believe I let half a decade go by without reading it. Glad to see you enjoyed it as well.