Book ReviewReview of 'The Ladies of Grace Adieu' by Susanna Clarke. ; |
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If you are in the habit of perusing the shelves of bookshops and even the tables at car boot sales, you may be familiar with the hugely thick, distinctively black covered previous offering from Susannah Clarke - 'Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell'. Even if, like me, you haven't actually read it yet!
But nonetheless, I feel strangely drawn to it, and it's on my list of Books To Read When I Have The Time, (or, more likely, get an audio version so's I can listen to it in my sleep) so, when I saw that the same author had published a collection of short stories, I seized the opportunity to get a taste of her writing and bought a copy of 'The Ladies of Grace Adieu', with its strange pink bindweed flowers on the cover, no dust jacket although it is hardback and its quote on the back - 'Magic, madam, is like wine and, if you are not used to it, it will make you drunk.' But you soon learn that the lady being addressed knows far more about magic than the speaker. The title comes from the first story, which features the 'ladies of Grace Adieu', the latter being the place in which they live. I guess you have to have a certain sense of humour to enjoy this book, but it is one that I share with the author, and also it helps if you can think laterally and use some imagination. You would then realise that the three ladies of the title story are actually witches and they protect themselves and the ones they love, as only witches know how. Which explains why there are so many owls flying about in the house, where the villains went, and why regurgitated mouse bones were left by the ladies in their napkins at the tea table. There are lots of faeries in the book, or Pharisees, as named by the heroine of the story 'On Lickerish Hill', which is written in a very tongue-in-cheek, archaic English style - 'When I waz a child I lived at Dr. Quince's on the other side of Lickerish Hill. Sometimes in a winter's twilight I have look't out of Dr. Quince's windowe and seen Lickerish Hill (where the Pharisees live).' But once you get used to it, it suits the heroine admirably. But my favourite tale has to be the one about the C of E vicar who is also a faery: 'Mr. Simonelli or The Fairy Widower.' The tale is an absolute masterpiece, unfolding, as it does, by means of entries in a journal, with nothing being explained in plain words, but the realisation of what he has done to save the five beautiful sisters, suddenly hitting you, leaving you in awe of the author's narrative skills. In fact, there isn't a boring bit in the whole 235 pages. And that is some achievement. So, if you haven't yet read it, go out and borrow it or buy it, but get it!!! Freda |
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