Nancy Pearl Recommends...Susanna Clarke!

"Fans (I am one) of all 780-plus pages of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell, Susanna Clarke’s story of two warring English magicians during the early 19th century, will definitely want to pick up The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories and spend a diverting several hours revisiting the same world (including many of the same characters) of her best-selling novel. For those for whom Clarke’s writing is a new discovery, it’s important to know, going in, that in Clarke’s world magic and what is conventionally called reality are only thinly separated. The world of Faerie can be perceived out of the corner of one’s eye, as it were – it’s that close. Here, in her first collection of short stories, are tales of cunning (and beautiful) witches, merciless owls, the power of embroidery to change the course of history (as Lord Horatio Nelson discovers), and a little known event in the life of Mary, Queen of Scots. The writing is captivating, the characters charming (if sometimes dangerous), and the notion that perhaps there’s more to the world than what our five senses tell us, is, as Clarke might say (with a smile), simply enchanting." --Nancy Pearl
(from http://www.holtzbrincklibrary.com)