The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories

By: Susanna Clarke

Narrated by: Davina Porter, Simon Prebble

Following the enormous success of 2004 bestseller and critics' favorite Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke delivers a delicious collection of ten stories set in the same fairy-crossed world of 19th-century England. With Clarke's characteristic historical detail and diction, these dark, enchanting tales unfold in a slightly distorted version of our own world, where people are bedeviled by mischievous interventions from the fairies. With appearances from beloved characters from her novel, including Jonathan Strange and Childermass, and an entirely new spin on certain historical figures, including Mary, Queen of Scots, this is a must-have for fans of Susanna Clarke and an enticing introduction to her work for new listeners.

Critic reviews

<p>“Ravishing...superb...combines the dark mythology of fantasy with the delicious social comedy of Jane Austen into a masterpiece of the genre that rivals Tolkien.” —<i>Time on Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell</i><br><br>“Clarke welcomes herself into an exalted company of British writers--not only, some might argue, Dickens and Austen, but also the fantasy legends Kenneth Grahame and George MacDonald--as well as contemporary writers like Susan Cooper and Philip Pullman.” —<i>The New York Times Book Review on Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell</i><br><br>“There's no better way to experience the material than to hear it performed by such a consummate actor.” —<i>Publishers Weekly on Simon Prebble's narration</i></p>

Slowly draws you into her world

Having not read Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell (though it's been on my shelf for ages) I was a bit bemused by the first story and almost gave up. I loved the language and atmosphere, but found the characters hard to engage with and wasn't always entirely sure exactly what was going on.
However the next story, an evocative, whimsical and cheeky retelling of the English folk tale Tom Tit Tot, totally sucked me in and from then on I was completely hooked. The two readers worked well for me, they each brought something different to the stories, though in some ways it would have made things clearer if they'd alternated story by story as sometimes the transition from one story to another was unclear. Also it would be nice if the chapters were each individual stories, so you could easily navigate back to the beginning of a story (if, like me, you sometimes vague out and then suddenly realise you are not sure what's going on).

I listened to these in the last weeks of my pregnancy as I walked the hills and bushlands of my area and it totally transformed the surrounding environment into Clarke's fairytale world. I think this will be the first audio book experience I will treasure as an experience with its own peculiarly intimate geography - something I usually identify with the physical terrain of the book.

Recommended for people with an interest in fairy and folktales, fans of Neil Gaiman, Angela Carter, Margaret Mahy. If you like this I highly recommend Margo Lanagan's Tender Morsels, which uses Snow White and Rose Red as a storytelling frame. Be warned though, Lanagan's world is far less benign than Clarke's fairy landscape of tricksters and sprites and does contain confronting themes.

My favorite Audible listen!!

The Ladies of Grace Adieu is my favorite Audible listen. My default Audible listen,

Wonderful

These are wonderful stories, maybe even better than her long novel "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" which I read first and enjoyed very much. Smart, entertaining, witty, I recommend this very highly.

Love Love Love

No one combines old and new so well as Susanna Clark. What a lovely bunch of “faery” tales, and a bracing dip back into the world of JSaMN

Mildly entertaining but not her best work

Mildly entertaining but not her best work - the short story format is much less engaging