Desperate to impress the London government ministers whose class prejudice frustrates his goals, he enlists the aid of a terrifyingly amoral Faerie king to bring an influential politician's newly deceased fiancée back to life.Ĭlarke deadpans: "It has been remarked (by a lady infinitely cleverer than the present author) how kindly disposed the world in general feels to young people who either die or marry. Gilbert Norrell, Yorkshire scholar-supreme, astounds them all by performing feats of "practical" magic - an ungentlemanly pursuit that earns him instant renown. By 1806, English magicians have been reduced to ineffectual theoreticians and antiquarian book-collectors. If I ever decide to practise magic, I'll be sure to use Ravilious's spells rather than Omskirk's.Īll this faux-erudition underpins the book's central conceit: the revival of English magic during the Regency period, after several centuries of disuse. ("We" are assumed to be Victorians - a neat touch.) Clarke's punctilious scholarship - particularly in her copious footnotes - has such an authoritative air that we can scarcely resist believing she's filling gaps in our general knowledge. Susanna Clarke concocts a wickedly credible parallel history of Britain in which magicians were as active and prominent as anyone else we learned about at school.
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