“The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories” by Susanna Clarke
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Rating: 3/5 Stars.
A collection of stories that involve magic and the faerie realm in Britain coexisting with the human world. Some have a fairy tale feeling about them, while in others, the existence of the fairy realm and magic is taken for granted and humans must navigate perilously through them. Some of the stories involve notable historical characters. Not having read “Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell”, this collection probably serves as an introduction to that novel.
- “The Ladies of Grace Adieu”: a story involving three ladies in the town of Grace Adieu who have concerns about some men who plan to take over a house by getting rid of the children who lived there. Getting rid of them may involve ‘ladies magic’ but a certain magician, Jonathan Strange, may see through their plans.
- “On Lickerish Hill”: a girl is married to a man, only to discover that a year into their marriage, she is expected to spin flax into linen for a month, or be killed. Locked in a tower to spin, she gets a visit from a fairy who will spin the flax for her. But if she does not find out his name at the end of the month, she will be his. Visiting scholars may be the aid she needs to find the name.
- “Mrs Mabb”: a girl expecting to marry a Captain unexpectedly discovers that the Captain has been smitten by a Mrs Mabb, a person whom everybody (and nobody) knows about, and lives in all kinds of places. Her attempts to find Mrs Mabb and win back the Captain are repulsed and leave her disoriented. But she is determined to confront Mrs Mabb.
- “The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse”: the Duke of Wellington chases after his horse and ends up in fairy land. There, he meets a lady whose embroidery tells the near future. And in this near future, the Duke might meet a deadly fate unless he can change the story.
- “Mr. Simonelli or the Fairy Widower”: told as a series of personal entries, a scholar becomes the pastor of a small village, only to encounter a strange person who turns out to be his fairy cousin. Immune to the fairy’s illusions of wealth and grandeur, the scholar discovers the fairy’s plan to marry one of the daughters of a woman in the village, and has to come up with a plan to prevent this, while rescuing a girl from the fairy’s house who had been kidnapped to become a wet-nurse.
- “Tom Brightwind, or, How the Fairy Bridge Was Built at Thoresby”: a doctor and a Fairy of noble heritage make a journey to visit one of the doctor’s patients. During the journey, they pass through a town that is doing poorly but may have its fortune’s revived if a bridge could be built to cross a nearby river. The noble Fairy decides to build it, but in a way that nobody expects it to be built and leading to unexpected places.
- “Antickes and Frets”: Mary, Queen of Scots seeks the help of Queen Elizabeth, but is instead confined to a noble’s house. Seeking revenge, Mary decides to try to imbue magic into the cloth that she sews that she sends to Queen Elizabeth. But her efforts may be in vain.
- “John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner”: a humorous story of a poor charcoal burner whose house is trampled during a hunt by John Uskglass, the Raven King. The charcoal burner wants retribution and calls on various saints, who answer his call by causing various disasters on Uskglass, until he has little choice but to apologise who the charcoal burner, who he believes to be a magician to have cause him such distress.
Book read from 2026/10/02 to 2026/10/07.