Nearly ten years after I bought the book I have read every single word, every single footnote, and I am very nearly lost for words. I loved it that much.

The story opens in a world is so very alive, a very real England, an England that I visited many times in 18th and 19th century novels, an England rich in detail, but an England that has been rebuilt with have the history and presence of magic quite beautifully woven in.

A wonderful array of characters, each and everyone with a significant part to play, simply and beautifully drawn, were given names that described them beautifully without ever seeming contrived, and they brought that world, and that story to life.

It began in an England where magic had died after the disappearance of its greatest magician, The Raven King, who had come out of the Land of Faerie to reign in the north. Magic was a dry academic subject, not a practical art.

One man asked why that was, and  events that the Raven King had prophesised began to unfold:

Two magicians shall appear in England.
The first shall fear me; the second shall long to behold me;
The first shall be governed by thieves and murderers; the second shall conspire at his own destruction;
The first shall bury his heart in a dark wood beneath the snow, yet still feel its ache;
The second shall see his dearest possession in his enemy’s hand.
The first shall pass his life alone; he shall be his own gaoler;
The second shall tread lonely roads, the storm above his head, seeking a dark tower upon a high hillside.
I sit upon a black throne in the shadows but they shall not see me.
The rain shall make a door for me and I shall pass through it;
The stones shall make a throne for me and I shall sit upon it.
The nameless slave shall wear a silver crown,
The nameless slave shall be a king in a strange country.

I don’t want to write about details of plot and character, because I couldn’t possibly do them justice, and if I tried I wouldprobably be up all night, going around and around  in circles.

What I will write about are some of the things I loved:

I loved that the prophecy played out in the story, and that even though I had ideas about what was going to happen I never really knew, and that what did happen was exactly right.

I loved the characters and the relationship of Mr Norrell and Mr Strange, and that even thought their differing natures and view about the history and restoration of magic in England drove them apart, their love of magic pulled them together.

I loved that so much of magic, so much of the heart of the story, was steeped in nature and history, and utterly timeless.

I loved the set pieces, and the drawing in of real figures from history was inspired.

I loved the tone, the wit, the style, the echoes of great novelists; and I was dazzled by the depth of knowledge, by the love of the creator for her creation that shone from the pages, and by the work that she had so clearly done to allow this world so rich in detail, so real and so magical, to live and breathe.

I loved the end of the story echoed the beginning, and that the seeds of that ending were sown very quietly, and very early in the story. And I loved that though the ending was an ending, it might also be the start of something else.

Most of all, I loved that even though the book wasn’t quite perfect, that there were one or two sequences that dragged, it didn’t matter, that I still loved the book as a whole. Because the idea was so wonderful, because its execution was so clever, and because everything came together and worked quite perfectly.

I didn’t want to leave that world, I wanted to know what was happening around the stories when interesting characters were offstage, I wanted to know what had happened before, what would happen afterward, and I so wanted to be part of it all.

How I wish I could visit the library at Hurfew, and read and read and read …..

I’m at a loss now that the story has played out, but I am quite sure that one day I will visit this world again.

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Vishy, from Vishy’s Blog, and Delia, from Postcards from Asia have been the hosts of this readalong, and I am so grateful that they inspired me to pick this book up and finally read it right through to the end.

The second part of anything that comes in three parts – be it a film, a book or a play – is always the  poor relation of the three.

The first part has the lovely job of introducing the story, the setting and the cast of characters, and of suggesting possibilities and steering a course.

The third part has the glamourous – if tricky – job of bringing together everything that has happened, maybe throwing in a twist or two and bringing things to a close in a fitting manner.

The second part has the hardest and least lauded job, of building on the work done by the first part, and of carrying everything forward and holding the interest, so that the third part can do its job

And so second parts are rarely easy to love as what comes before and as what follows, but it is very easy to admire then, and to appreciate what excellent work they do.

That was the case with my reading of the second volume of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.

The focus shifted from Mr Norell, who had been present from the very first chapter of the first volume, to Mr Strange, who was introduced towards the end of that volume. The relationship between the two magicains, the evolution of their relationship, their different attitudes and approaches, and the inevitable parting of the ways was the backbone of the story, and it moved forward beautifully.

The most striking points in the first volume were pieces of magic, but in the second act the finest of the set pieces were the meetings of Mr Strange with real, historical figures. The Duke of Wellington was wonderful, and George III was sublime.

I continued to love everything that I was so smitten with in the first volume. And I began to realise that to build this story must have taken such work and such planning,  as well as the love and imagination that were clear from the very start.

I continued to have ideas about where the story might be going, I have seen some of the pieces fit together and I have ideas about others, but I still don’t know.

And there was a shock, a change of direction maybe, at the end of this volume …

There is so much more that I want to say, but I’m saving it all for next week, when my first journey through this book will be complete. I say first journey, because I already know that it is a book I will want to read again.

I’ve already begun to read the third volume, and now I really must get back to it …..

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Vishy, from Vishy’s Blog, and Delia, from Postcards from Asia are the hosts of this readalong.

Well, here we are at the end of the first week of the readalong and – to my great surprise – I find myself way ahead of schedule and well into the second book already.

It is, most definitely, love.

What do I love?

I love that though this very big book, divided into three volumes, looks so much like a take on a Victorian novel, it is set somewhat earlier, during the Napoleonic Wars. And while I have seen it suggested that the style of some wonderful authors – Austen, Trollope and Dickens are the names I have seen most often – and while I can see all of those influences, none of them dominate. The style suits the period, suits the story, and it is the style of a storyteller with a keen eye, a gentle wit, and perfect control of her material.

I love that the world of this book is so very alive, that it is a very real England, overlaid with the history and presence of magic. The detail is wonderful, and the love that the architect of that world has for it shines from the pages.

I love that such a wonderful array of characters from that world have been presented to me, and that they are so very well drawn with just a few simple strokes. It seems that each and every one has a part to play, and there is no one I won’t be glad to see come to the fore. I shall be particularly pleased to see a little more of Mr Segundus and Mr Childermas …. and that reminds me that I am very taken with the names, which are distinctive without being gimmicky, and fitting without ever feeling contrived.

I love the magic, that has been so beautifully woven into real history and that is so nicely understated. The set pieces have been wonderful, and one of the things that I love most of all is that nearly all of the magic draws on the natural world. It would have been easy to overplay the magic, but that hasn’t happened. This remains a human story set in a real world where magic just happens to have a part to play.

I love that I have some idea where the story is going, but I don’t know too much, and I am so curious to know.

Most of all I am thrilled that I have found a book that appeals to both my childish love of a magical world and my grown up love of period fiction, that it is a book that has pulled me into a world that I don’t want to leave.

And I think that is reason enough for me to stop writing and start reading again …..

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Vishy, from Vishy’s Blog, and Delia, from Postcards from Asia are the hosts of this readalong.