Jonathan Strange & il Signor Norrell

In the midst of the Napoleonic Wars, most scholars believe that magic has completely disappeared from England. Everything changes when the reclusive and scholarly Mr. Norrell publicly reveals his magical abilities, sparking a wave of enthusiasm that sweeps across the country and carries him to the high-society drawing rooms of London. There, he puts his powers at the service of politicians and strikes a bargain with a gentleman from a fairy kingdom. Another magician then emerges on the scene: the young and daring Jonathan Strange, who first becomes Mr. Norrells pupil and then begins to challenge all his theories, drawn as he is to the most dangerous and dark forms of magic. Over the years, the battle between the two magicians grows more intense than Englands war against Napoleon, until their secret obsessions and ambitions threaten the lives of many and change the history of English magic forever.

Author: Susanna Clarke

Susanna Clarke is an English author best known for her debut novel Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. After a long hiatus due to illness, she returned with Piranesi, which won the Womens Prize for Fiction for its haunting atmosphere and brilliant originality.