The first thing to say is that Piranesi is incredibly easier to read than Strange & Norrell. I treated myself to the paperback as a self-present for Xmas 2021 but, largely out of a certain trepidation over the mental effort I assumed it would require, not to mention the dozens of other things that occupy my mind in retirement, I did not begin the book until early October 2022, determined to catch up on a small and mixed piles of books I hadn’t opened. The result was Piranesi, published to unanimous acclaim in 2020. For some time she was at work on a sequel to that book, which I hope will eventually come to fruition, but after having herself reinvigorated by a visit to the set of the television adaptation, Clarke recovered the urge and ability to write, but chose a simpler story, an idea that pre-dated Strange & Norrell, featuring far fewer characters and requiring little or no research. Thanks in large part to chronic fatigue syndrome, it took Susanna Clarke sixteen years to produce a follow-up to the widely-acclaimed and massively successful Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Since then, it’s expanded beyond the confines of what I read in the Library. This irregular series began as a conscious decision to re-read certain books I had enjoyed many years ago when borrowed from Didsbury Library in South Manchester, and to consider how well, or otherwise, they stood up to my recollection of them.
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