The Ladies of Grace Adieu

(Note: This review originally appeared as part of a series of capsule reviews of illustrated novels, hence the focus on the art)

Clarke’s second book was better served in the illustration and design departments
than Jonathan Strange. The Ladies of Grace Adieu is bound with embossed,
printed cloth boards, and is delicately illustrated by Charles Vess, a veteran artist
who specializes in a sort of wistful, arcane drawing in the vein of Arthur
Rackham and others from the “Golden Age of Illustration” at the turn of the last
century. His dark, fantastical images are an excellent complement to Clarke’s
prose. While I do like to see more tension between the style of the prose and the
illustrations, sometimes it is the right choice to create a seamless collaboration
such as this one. ( )

I had a really challenging time reading Clarke's first novel, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel, but once I had acclimatized to her writing style and got into the story (after three tries) I quite enjoyed it. I knew what I was in for this time around, so it was practically effortless getting caught up in this collection of stories. Each explores a case a magical happenings during Clarke's alternate Victorian era, so we get a range of characters and adventures that is more varied than in the lengthy narrative of Strange and Norrel. Many of the stories also feature female characters and magicians prominently, so we get away from the political and military aspects that seem to dominate the male magicians of the day. Poor men, it seems, as the sorceresses surely have more fun with their conjuring, shapeshifting, and general trickery. The men may try to keep them in bounds (in typical Victorian fashion), but as the ladies of Grace Adieu state when faced with the (all be it soft) wrath of Jonathan Strange: "you cannot even reconcile what you believe in your heart to be true and what we are obliged to write in the quarterly reviews" and to not return to challenge them until he has figured himself out. He may be the second greatest magicianof the age, but he is no match for women who know themselves and who know their power! ( )

Probably closer to 4.5, but I'm erring on the side of caution. This feels a lot like the brilliant light of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell filtered through a prism - each story captures a little of what made that book so great, but also filters it in its own way. Highlights include the title story, which is a stark, discomfiting answer to "Where are all the female magicians in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell?" (though not in the way you might expect), "Tom Brightwind", which features the return of Clarke's signature digressive footnotes, and "John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner", which is a hilarious ending to the otherwise relatively staid collection. I think there are a few of these that are too light for their own good ("Mrs. Mabb" feels like something of a missed opportunity, and "Anticks and Frets" feels more like an outline than a proper story), but overall this is a really great treat after reading the big feast of Strange & Norrell. ( )

2020-I tried to listen on digital audio. The first short story is narrated by the fabulous Davina Porter The story switches between characters, there are paragraph breaks in the physical book but the audiobook just chugs on. Between no warnings when we are switching POVs, the difficult dialect & accents, I have to stop the audiobook and wait until I can read the physical book which I already own.

~The Ladies of Grace Adieu (1996) novelette
~On Lickerish Hill (1997) novelette
~Mrs Mabb (1998) novelette
~The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse (1999) short story
~Mr. Simonelli or the Fairy Widower (2000) novella
~Tom Brightwind, or, How the Fairy Bridge Was Built at Thoresby (2001) novelette
~Antickes and Frets (2004) short story free here: https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/31/opinion/antickes-and-frets1.html?_r=0
~John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner (2006) short story

A collection of short stories, largely set in the same world as [Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell] (Jonathan Strange even makes an appearance in the title story).

I somehow was unaware of the existence of this collection until recently and am delighted to discover it. If you enjoy JSaMN, then these tales will be highly appreciated. The tales all have the same flavour of menace from a Faerie that humans never quite respect enough, with occasional glimpses of fantastic magic, all with a cloak of Regency respectability. Also, for Neil Gaiman fans, one of Clarke's tales involves the Duke of Wellington accidentally crossing over into Wall from [Stardust], which is a wonderful short story. Recommended for fans of Clarke's writing. ( )