The Ladies of Grace Adieu

Susanna Clarke's much lauded magnum opus Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is one of my favorite speculative books. So I didn't hesitate to order The Ladies Of Grace Adieu And Other Stories after reading an excellent review on the Calmgrove blog.

It features 8 stories, plus a fictional introduction by "Professor James Sutherland, Director of Sidhe Studies, University of Aberdeen". That introduction is only 3 pages and set my expectations even higher, as Clarke's familiar 'English' narrative voice shone through instantly, promising more of the treat Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell was. All the stories in this 235-page collection deal with Faerie in one way or the other, and were illustrated by WFA winning artist Charles Vess. A few are also explicitly linked with J.S. & Mr. N.

The stories are about 10 to 50 pages long, and nearly all predate Clarke's big tome by a few years. All but one were published before. Here's a list of the titles: The Ladies Of Grace Adieu (1996), On Lickerish Hill (1997), Mrs Mabb (1998), The Duke Of Wellington Misplaces His Horse (1999), Mr Simonelli Or The Fairy Widower (2000), Tom Brightwind Or How The Fairy Bridge Was Built At Thoresby (2001), Antickes And Frets (2004) and John Uskglass And The Cumbian Charcoal Burner (new).

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