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Product Description
In York in the early 1800s, a society of magicians meet to read each other long, dull papers upon the history of English magic. In their opinion, there are no practising magicians left in the country of England. Little do they know that they are soon to encounter the reclusive Mr Norrell of Hurtfew Abbey, who will cause the stone statues of the Cathedral of York to speak and dance - and a beautiful young woman to be raised from the dead. Mr Norrell goes to London, persuaded that he must make his gifts available to the government in its war against Napoleon. He swiftly becomes a man of influence and distinction, only to be threatened by the appearance of Jonathan Strange, a charming and rich young man with sardonic eyebrows and an extraordinary talent for magic. It is a talent that will take Jonathan Strange to the very edges of darkness, where lurks the shadowy figure of the Raven King, a human child taken by the fairies in ancient times, who became the most legendary magician of all Elegant, witty and utterly compelling, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell creates a past world of great mystery and beauty that will hold the reader in thrall until the last page.It is an astonishing achievement.
Amazon.com Review
It's 1808 and that Corsican upstart Napoleon is battering the English army and navy. Enter Mr. Norrell, a fusty but ambitious scholar from the Yorkshire countryside and the first practical magician in hundreds of years. What better way to demonstrate his revival of British magic than to change the course of the Napoleonic wars? Susanna Clarke's ingenious first novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, has the cleverness and lightness of touch of the Harry Potter series, but is less a fairy tale of good versus evil than a fantastic comedy of manners, complete with elaborate false footnotes, occasional period spellings, and a dense, lively mythology teeming beneath the narrative. Mr. Norrell moves to London to establish his influence in government circles, devising such powerful illusions as an 11-day blockade of French ports by English ships fabricated from rainwater. But however skillful his magic, his vanity provides an Achilles heel, and the differing ambitions of his more glamorous apprentice, Jonathan Strange, threaten to topple all that Mr. Norrell has achieved. A sparkling debut from Susanna Clarke--and it's not all fairy dust. --Regina Marler
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