The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke
I’m normally not a fan of short stories. I get too distracted to fully enjoy each short story because I start to think about the next one to come. Also, I was not a big fan of Susanna Clark’s Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (mostly because I am not a fan of footnotes: see short stories explanation). That being said, I enjoyed The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories.
After reading this novel I can see why so many others enjoyed Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. The title story of the book deals with the same world in which Strange and Norrell live and it was charming, interesting and a lot of fun in a very muted, subtle way. I loved it – and it had no footnotes!
However, my favorite story of the book was The Duke of Wellington Misplaces his Horse. I adored this story. There was no definite conclusion to the story and I could have continued reading about it for another 150 pages, easily. The story is set in Neil Gaiman’s Stardust world where the Wall exists to separate the world of man from the world of faerie. The story held so much more potential and I found myself wanting to get lost in Neil Gaiman’s world all over again.. (that being said, I’m thinking a read of Stardust is in my near future, I’ve only seen the movie!)
Overall, the book was very easy to read and fun and I wasn’t too badly distracted by the promise of upcoming stories. A plus in my book!
