‘Magicians have no business marrying’ says Mr Norrell, of Strange’s relationship with Arabella. What is the effect of mixing fact and fiction in this way?ģ. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell interweaves fictional characters with real figures from nineteenth-century England including, among others, King George III, the publisher John Murray, the Duke of Wellington and the poet Byron. What is the narrator’s view of the government ministers, aristocrats and military figures who hold the reigns of power in Regency England? Do you think satire plays an important part in the novel?Ģ. Sir Walter Pole likens England in the novel to ‘an orphaned young lady left in the care of a pack of lecherous, avaricious old men’ who ‘stole her inheritance and plundered her house’. Readalikes for Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrellįrom the publisher’s Reading Guide (download for additional questions and commentary)…ġ. Clarke’s other books if you’d like to check them out as well.

Susanna lives in Cambridge with her partner, the novelist and reviewer Colin Greenland.Ĭonsider taking a moment to read this interview with Susanna Clarke from BBC. Her short story Mr Simonelli, or The Fairy Widower was short-listed for a World Fantasy Award in 2001. She followed with a collection of short stories, The Ladies of Grace Adieu (2006). Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell was filmed as a major BBC drama that aired in 2015. In 1992, she began working on Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell which was finally published in 2004 by Bloomsbury to widespread critical acclaim and commercial success. In 1990 she left London to teach English in Turin and Bilbao for two years, returning to England to work at Simon and Schuster as a cookery editor. She was educated at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, and has worked in various areas of publishing. Susanna Clarke was born in Nottingham in 1959, the eldest daughter of a Methodist minister.

Jonathan norrell and mr strange