Susanna Clarke's Next Novel - PIRANESI

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

Some of you (the site administrator, particularly) may remember my first recommended reading choice, at least the first when I decided to make it a separate monthly series - Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, an alternate history Tolkien-Austen-Dickens hybrid about two rival magicians in the 19th century. While I have not had the pleasure of reading that story due to my own laziness (which led to a restriction I've placed on myself regarding recommending only books I've had personal experience with), it went over well with everyone, and I remember the slight disappointment of not having another books of hers to get to.

Well, as the heading of this topic indicates, the wait is over. Mrs. Clarke is finally releasing a new novel after 14 years since her last book (which was a short story collection, The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories). Unfortunately, it is NOT the quasi-sequel to Strange & Norrell which she said was coming but a whole new story altogether, so it seems. The new novel, Piranesi, sounds like a surreal dreamscape, as seen from the plot description, found here:

"Piranesi's house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house.

"There is one other person in the house - a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.

"For readers of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane and fans of Madeline Miller's Circe, Piranesi introduces an astonishing new world, an infinite labyrinth, full of startling images and surreal beauty, haunted by the tides and the clouds."

It sounds like quite a read. It will be released on Sept. 15, 2020, in hardcover; I expect the paperback version to follow the next year, so you might want to wait for that, but I'll provide a link to the hardcover anyway.

Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Piranesi-Susanna-Clarke/dp/163557563X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=susanna+clarke&qid=1578091934&sr=8-1

FINAL NOTE: According to a message on Tor.com, it seems that Mrs. Clarke's third novel is also currently being finalized, due for a release in 2021. At this time, no other information is available on it, so stay tuned.

[Raven]

I really hope she does a sequel to Jonathan Strange. Man, that was such a good book. Not sure I'm hooked by the premise of the new one, but maybe some day.