Susanna Clarke writes slowly and sparingly, and every book repays the patience. Her 800-page debut, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, won the 2005 Hugo and World Fantasy Awards and was longlisted for the Booker; sixteen years later, Piranesi took the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction.
She isn't cosy in the hot-drinks-and-low-stakes sense, but she's one of the great comfort writers for a particular mood — rainy afternoons, footnotes, and English magic half-remembered from a dream. There's no numbered series and no required reading order: Piranesi stands entirely alone, while Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, her short stories and her winter tale all share one world of English magic and can be read in any order.
If you're wondering which of her best books to begin with, the short answer is Piranesi; the longer answer is just below — along with word that a new novel, set in Bradford, is on its way.
On our shelves
Quietly UncannyLonely And Luminous
Piranesi
A man lives alone in a vast house of marble statues and rising tides, keeping tender, methodical notes on everything he sees. To say more would spoil it. Quiet, uncanny, and the sort of beautiful that trails you for weeks. Read it when you want to be held by a mystery rather than chased by one.
Footnote MagicSlow And Sumptuous
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Two magicians bring practical magic back to a rainy, candlelit England, then rather inevitably fall out. It is enormous, dry-witted, and stuffed with footnotes about fairy roads and mad kings. Think a Jane Austen novel that wandered off into the cold woods. Read it across a long winter, a chapter a night, in no hurry whatsoever.
Where to start
Start with Piranesi. At around 250 pages it's short, self-contained and gentle — a man alone in an endless house of marble halls washed by ocean tides, slowly working out who he is and how he came to be there. It's the most welcoming way into Clarke's writing. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is the more famous book, but it's an 800-page commitment, so save it for when you already know you want the whole epic.
Susanna Clarke’s books
A gentle man lives alone in an endless labyrinth of marble halls washed by the tides, slowly piecing together who he is and how he came to be there. Quiet and contemplative; it won the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction.
On our shelves →
Clarke's epic 800-page debut: during the Napoleonic Wars, two rival magicians set out to revive practical English magic. It won the 2005 Hugo and World Fantasy Awards — the full, footnoted commitment, and worth every page.
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A short, illustrated winter story set in the world of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, following Merowdis Scot, a young woman who can talk to animals and trees and meets a fateful figure in a snowy wood. Illustrated by Victoria Sawdon, it began life as a BBC Radio 4 broadcast.
Eight fairy-tale short stories, most set in the same English-magic world as Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, several of them about the magic worked by women. A fine companion to the novel.
Good questions
There's no required order — Clarke has no numbered series. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004), The Ladies of Grace Adieu (2006) and The Wood at Midwinter (2024) share one world of English magic and can be read in any order, with the novel as the anchor. Piranesi (2020) is entirely unconnected and stands completely alone.
Piranesi. It's short, self-contained, gentle and atmospheric, and the most accessible way into her writing. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is the better-known book but an 800-page undertaking, so it suits readers who already want the full epic.
It's completely standalone — a different world, different characters, no shared story. You can read Piranesi entirely on its own, in either direction relative to her other books.
Gentle. It's quiet and contemplative, narrated by a kind man finding his way through a strange and beautiful house — a mystery that holds you rather than chases you, and at around 250 pages it never outstays its welcome.
Clarke has attributed the long gap between Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and Piranesi in part to living with chronic fatigue syndrome. The wait, happily, did nothing to dim the second book.
Her most recent is The Wood at Midwinter (2024), a short illustrated winter tale. She has also announced a forthcoming novel set in Bradford, England — so there's more to come.
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