Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories » (Reprint)

Her first novel Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell establishes Susanna Clarke as a new fantasy writer to watch. The story of two magicians in early nineteenth-century London is a fanciful, absorbing book that promises to gain fans outside the dedicated fantasy audience.

Susanna Clarke delivers a delicious collection of ten stories set in the same fairy-crossed world of 19th-century England.

Publishers Weekly

Fans of Clarke's bestselling Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrellshould be pleased with this book, as the stories collected here are very much cut from the same cloth. The stories (seven previously published and one original tale, "John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner") deal with fairies and the history of English magic, and are told in the same Victorian style that made JS&MNso distinct. Prebble (who also narrated JS&MN) returns and once again triumphantly brings Clarke's richly imagined world to life. Sharing narrative duties this time around is Porter, who is equally skilled at playing prim and high-born ladies as she is using more folksy tones in "On Lickerish Hill." The footnotes that bogged down the audio edition of JS&MNare mostly absent, and the narrators' very different styles work well to give each story its own distinct feel. A lyrical and thoroughly enjoyable collection from a burgeoning master of fantasy literature. Simultaneous release with the Bloomsbury hardcover (Reviews, July 31). (Nov.)

The Ladies of Grace Adieu

On Lickerish Hill

Mrs. Mabb

The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse

Mr. Simonellie or The Fairy Widower

Tom Brightwind or How the Fairy Bridge Was Built at Thoresby

Antickes and Frets

John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner