The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

I'm in agreement with all of the 5-star reviewers here. I'd just like to make a few points about why I love Susanna Clarke's writing, and I'll mention the audiobook:

* “The Duke of Wellington Misplaces his Horse” was a particularly delightful piece not only because it was so whimsical, but mainly because the main character is a real historical figure. One of the aspects of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell that I particularly enjoyed was Susanna Clarke's use of several historical events and people. She gives them personalities that are completely believable. Imagining The Duke of Wellington in this particular magical situation was highly entertaining.

* In addition to mentioning true history and geography, Ms Clarke's use of footnotes, introductions by the “editor,” and fictional references to other works and theories about faerie give her world detail, background, and richness similar to Tolkien's Middle Earth. I read a lot of scholarly research, so I'm not easy to fool, but I certainly felt like I was reading someone's dissertation. An entertaining dissertation.

* I particularly appreciate Susanna Clarke's use of dry humor (the English do that so well, don't they?). If you're into Xanth, Ronan, Discworld, or The Belgariad, it may not be your thing, but to me, it's hilarious.

I listened to The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories on audiobook. I guess Susanna Clarke ranks high with her publisher because this book is read by two of the best readers in all of audiobook-dom: Simon Prebble and Davina Porter. Simon Prebble is up there with Simon Vance (who read Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander series) and comedian Lenny Henry (who read Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys). Davina Porter reads Marion Zimmer Bradley and Diana Gabaldon (and a lot of historical fiction) and I can't think of any female reader who's better than Davina Porter – I could listen to her read accounting textbooks and be entertained for hours as long as she read each chapter in a different voice (and I bet she could). She's particularly good at Cockney.

We have only two major works by Susanna Clarke so far, but in my opinion, there is no better writer in all of fantasy fiction. For that matter, her prose is on level with those authors who we recognize as the greatest in all of literature. I hope there is much more coming from Susanna Clarke!


Read more Susanna Clarke book reviews at Fantasy Literature .

Honestly kinda conflicted about this book. On one hand, Clarke's writing is unparalleled and I am a huge admirer, semi-academically. On the other, I just frequently got bored through a lot of these stories or felt that they ended anti-climactically.

The best story in this lot is also the very first one listed, the titular “Ladies of Grace Adieu”. There's proper magic, there's a great storytelling trajectory, a small mystery underlying the whole thing, and a satisfying conclusion. That's pretty much more than I can say for most of the other stories. Some of them were really promising throughout (”On Lickerish Hill”, “Mr Simonelli, or the Fairy Widower”, for e.g.) but then just had very unsatisfying and sometimes abrupt endings. Others (”Tom Brightwind”, “John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner”, for e.g.) were just so bizarre that I had trouble following along and skimmed through a lot.

Don't get me wrong though. I haven't read any contemporary historical fiction writer that is able to more accurately replicate an early 19th century writing style than Susanna Clarke and there's always a perpetual awe when I'm reading her book. It really feels like I'm reading something actually written by someone living in the early Victorian times, but then with our very modern concepts of magical realism thrown in. Her stories are quite often pretty dark, morbid, and even gory, but with an outer coating of Regency/Victorian aesthetic, so there's almost a Tim Burton thing going on here. I've really never read anything like her writing before or since. I'm, of course, basing most of this from reading her most popular novel, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. For Ladies of Grace Adieu, I'd recommend only reading it perhaps after JS & MN - though it is shorter, it is not exactly a good primer for Clarke's writing style and might be just too eclectic for people new to her.