Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: A Novel

By Susanna Clarke

The 20th Anniversary Edition of the Hugo-award winning, epic New York Times Bestseller and basis for the BBC miniseries, where two men change England's history when they bring magic back into the world, now with a new introduction from V.E. Schwab.

In the midst of the Napoleonic Wars in 1806, most people believe magic to have long since disappeared from England - until the reclusive Mr. Norrell reveals his powers and becomes an overnight celebrity.

Another practicing magician then emerges: the young and daring Jonathan Strange. He becomes Norrell's pupil, and the two join forces in the war against France.

But Strange is increasingly drawn to the wild, most perilous forms of magic, and he soon risks sacrificing his partnership with Norrell and everything else he holds dear.

Susanna Clarke's brilliant first novel is an utterly compelling epic tale of nineteenth-century England and the two magicians who, first as teacher and pupil and then as rivals, emerge to change its history.

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Published Aug 11, 2020

864 pages

Average rating: 7.85

104 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

AsheV
Aug 03, 2026
6/10 stars
Interesting mix of historical events with magic woven into them. However, a big event that seemed like the whole story was leading to just didn't happen. The ending felt anticlimactic.
hannah8ball
Jul 17, 2026
6/10 stars
This book was really difficult to get into. Took me until the final third to not be able to put it down. And this being a massive book, explains why it took me so long to read it. It felt like the book took entirely too long making clear where we were going with the story in favor of social descriptions and interactions. Still, the language was perfectly in period and the world had some interesting elements. I think if you are a lover of Dickens or Austen then you'd love this book right away.
Megera
Apr 04, 2025
10/10 stars
AMAZING - best fantasy fiction book written. Period.
hoyt
Jun 29, 2024
While not a perfect book, this is an amazing book, and is now one of my favorites. The author has presented a completely constructed alternate version of 1800s England and Europe with a bit of magic (including inventing a whole library's worth of cited fictional references for the footnotes), and populated it with interesting, annoying, and deeply-flawed characters. It is very long, but uses all of those pages well to really immerse you in the world. Read this book!
Reanae99
Apr 26, 2024
4/10 stars
I finally finished. Every time I thought about reading this book I would get the children's song "This is the Song that Never Ends" stuck in my head.

There were two characters I actually liked and since they were both minor characters until the end of the book they weren't in it very much.

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