Two magicians shall appear in England. The first shall fear me; the second shall long to behold me Centuries ago, when magic still existed in England, the greatest magician of them all was the Raven King. A human child brought up by fairies, the Raven King blended fairy wisdom and human reason to create English magic. Now, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, he is barely more than a legend, and England, with its mad King and its dashing poets, no longer believes in practical magic. Then the reclusive Mr Norrell of ...
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Two magicians shall appear in England. The first shall fear me; the second shall long to behold me Centuries ago, when magic still existed in England, the greatest magician of them all was the Raven King. A human child brought up by fairies, the Raven King blended fairy wisdom and human reason to create English magic. Now, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, he is barely more than a legend, and England, with its mad King and its dashing poets, no longer believes in practical magic. Then the reclusive Mr Norrell of Hurtfew Abbey appears and causes the statues of York Cathedral to speak and move. News spreads of the return of magic to England and, persuaded that he must help the government in the war against Napoleon, Mr Norrell goes to London. There he meets a brilliant young magician and takes him as a pupil. Jonathan Strange is charming, rich and arrogant. Together, they dazzle the country with their feats. But the partnership soon turns to rivalry. Mr Norrell has never conquered his lifelong habits of secrecy, while Strange will always be attracted to the wildest, most perilous magic.He becomes fascinated by the shadowy figure of the Raven King, and his heedless pursuit of long-forgotten magic threatens, not only his partnership with Norrell, but everything that he holds dear. 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.
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Add this copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell to cart. $6.09, good condition, Sold by Yare Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Great Yarmouth, NORFOLK, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2015 by Bloomsbury.
Add this copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell to cart. $6.28, very good condition, Sold by Yare Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Great Yarmouth, NORFOLK, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2005 by Bloomsbury.
Add this copy of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell: Susanna Clarke to cart. $8.32, very good condition, Sold by M Godding Books Ltd rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Devizes, WILTS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2015 by Bloomsbury Paperbacks.
Add this copy of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell to cart. $62.11, very good condition, Sold by Alpha 2 Omega Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Southampton, HANTS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2004 by Bloomsbury Publishing.
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Near fine in Near fine jacket. Near fine condition. Bloomsbury, 2004. First UK edition-6th printing(10 9 8 7 6). Black hardback(black illustration and lettering to the spine, small nick on the edges of the cover) with a illustrated black Dj(a couple of scratches, small nicks and creases on the edges of the Dj cover), both in near fine condition. Illustrated with b/w plates. Nice and clean pages as new but with a couple of small marks on the outer edges, light shelf wear on the Dj cover.786pp. Price un-clipped. Heavy book(approx. 1.3 Kg).
Add this copy of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell to cart. $68.91, very good condition, Sold by Alpha 2 Omega Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Southampton, HANTS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2004 by Bloomsbury Publishing.
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Near fine in Near fine jacket. Near fine condition. Bloomsbury, 2004. First UK edition-7th printing(10 9 8 7). Cream hardback(black illustration and lettering to the spine, two small nicks and dent on the edges of the cover and spine) with a illustrated white Dj(a couple of nicks and creases on the edges of the Dj cover), both in near fine condition. Illustrated with b/w plates. Nice and clean pages with a small nick and light shelf wear on the outer edges, some creases on the edges of the pages. Nice and clean book with light shelf wear on the Dj cover.786pp. Price clipped. Heavy book(approx. 1.3 Kg).
Add this copy of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell to cart. $84.99, like new condition, Sold by Alpha 2 Omega Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Southampton, HANTS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2004 by Bloomsbury Publishing.
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Fine in Fine jacket. Fine condition. Bloomsbury, 2004. First UK edition-first printing(10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). Cream hardback(black illustration and lettering to the spine, two small nicks on the edges of the cover and spine) with a protected illustrated white Dj (two small nicks and crease on the edges of the Dj cover), both in fine condition. Illustrated with b/w plates. Nice and clean pages as new with two small ink marks on the outer edges. Nice and clean book, 786pp. Price clipped. A collectable first edition. Heavy book(approx. 1.4 Kg).
Add this copy of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell to cart. $88.91, like new condition, Sold by Alpha 2 Omega Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Southampton, HANTS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2004 by Bloomsbury Publishing.
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Fine in Near fine jacket. Fime/Near fine. Bloomsbury, 2004. First UK edition-first printing(10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). Black hardback(black illustration and lettering to the spine) in fine condition, with a illustrated black Dj(a couple of scratches, small nicks and crease on the Dj cover) in near fine condition. Illustrated with b/w plates. Nice and clean pages as new with two small nicks on the edges of the pages, light shelf wear on the back of the Dj cover.786pp. Price un-clipped. A collectable first edition. Heavy book(approx. 1.3 Kg).
Add this copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell to cart. $202.10, like new condition, Sold by theatticroom rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Nottingham, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2004 by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.
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Fine in fine dust jacket. Signed by author. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 800 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. The book is SIGNED & DATED by the author.
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Good. Worn & marked jacket & board edges. Bumped corners. Tanned & foxed textblock edge with light foxing to outer pages. Content is in very good, clean condition. 800 p. Contains: Unspecified. Includes unspecified.
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Good. All orders are dispatched within 1 working day from our UK warehouse. Established in 2004, we are dedicated to recycling unwanted books on behalf of a number of UK charities who benefit from added revenue through the sale of their books plus huge savings in waste disposal. No quibble refund if not completely satisfied.
Absolutely fabulous. Well written and very interesting. A big page turner.
Louis@HoustonBookClub.com
Feb 2, 2012
My favorite fantasy since JRR Tolkien
I couldn't believe how I could have missed such a wonderful book. Not since I read JRR Tolkien as a teenager has there been such an entertaining book, and a magical literary journey. While it's not action packed or fast paced, it makes the pleasure last, like sipping fine wine instead of downing it fast!
I highly recommend it, and wish the author would write more of this sort of story.
auntmar
Apr 3, 2009
delightful read
This book starts a bit slow and there are too many characters introduced in the beginning to keep up with. But as you get into it, you are somehow transported back in time to the early 1900's and can witness the Napoleonic wars and hobnob with Lord Byron. The world of lost magical possibilities is opened a bit and it almost reads as an actual history. I found this a very enjoyable book.
greebs
May 10, 2007
Worth the lengthy read
Perhaps the most amazing thing about Susanna Clarke's debut novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is not the tales of magic, the land of Fairie, the way the English supposedly cast spells over Napoleon Bonaparte to win the war...but the fact that Clarke got a 800-plus page novel published as her very first. That's remarkable...but then, so is the book.
I've never been one to read "fantasy" novels, and despite liking this a great deal, I doubt that this will change. But Clarke's novel is a wonder: it begins with the premise that many hundreds of years ago, magic was accepted and widely practised throughout England, a land that intersects the magical kingdom of Fairie. Indeed, it was so accepted that one king - the Raven King, aka John Uskglass - ruled both kingdoms, as well as a third that most presumed to be Hell.
Flash forward to the early 1800s, and magic is more of a philosophy, something to be debated and studied, but not practised. Gilbert Norrell, a recluse who has bought up most of the magic books in the world, is different. He can practise magic, and because he sneers at others who merely talk about it, he comes up with a way to ensure that he is the only magician in England. All this changes when Jonathan Strange arrives; a gifted prodigy, the two begin a mentor-student relationship that forms the majority of the novel.
The story itself is quite interesting, and though it's longer than it need be, that's rarely an issue. The tone of the book is written in an Olde English style, a la Jane Austen, which does take a bit of getting used to, but again, no real complaints. Where I had issues occasionally was with the footnotes. As a huge fan of David Foster Wallace, I'm not one to complain about lengthy footnotes, but at least his are often relevant to the plot. Here, more often than not, they were amusing anecdotes, but merely that. With a book of this length, either have them lend value to the plot, or tighten it up.
All of that being said, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell was a thoroughly enjoyable book, and one that I'd definitely recommend.
VoraciousReader
Apr 2, 2007
A New Favorite
Jonathan Strange and Mr.Norrell follows the lives of two English magicians during the era of the Napoleonic Wars. Mr. Norrell is a solitary, cautious magician and Jonathan Strange is young, sociable, and enjoys taking risks. For a time they work together to bring magic back to England, but soon it seems a quarrel is inevitable. Despite its great length, I found this book to be one of the most enjoyable books that I have read in quite some time. I loved the characters' various eccentricities and quirks, and I thoroughly enjoyed the author's dry somewhat ironic sense of humor. I do think that the often essay-length footnotes were a bit much. These tangential stories were interesting in themselves, but for me it often took away from the story rather than adding to it. In all, I think this is a fantastic work, and I hope to read more by this author.
