From the New York Times bestselling author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic new novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality.
Piranesi’s house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house.
There is one other person in the house—a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.
For readers of Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane and fans of Madeline Miller’s Circe, Piranesi introduces an astonishing new world, an infinite labyrinth, full of startling images and surreal beauty, haunted by the tides and the clouds.
This highly anticipated new novel from Susanna Clarke is weird. It is the most enticing, deliciously weird story I’ve read in a very long time. If reading books was akin to an acid trip, this would be it. I’m having trouble even describing how I feel about this book because it is so odd and unusual. I suspect that each reader will experience it differently. Some will give up at the beginning as you try to unravel the Third Northern and Western Walls and the Ninth Vestibule; others will succumb to confusion and hopelessness halfway through; but others will make it all the way through and come out on the other side a changed reader.
This takes some time and attention, but it’s well worth the effort.
Advance Praise
“An exquisite puzzle-box far, far bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.” —David Mitchell
“Piranesi astonished me. It is a miraculous and luminous feat of storytelling, at once a gripping mystery, an adventure through a brilliant new fantasy world, and a deep meditation on the human condition: feeling lost, and being found. I already want to be back in its haunting and beautiful halls!” —Madeline Miller
“This book is a treasure, washed up upon a forgotten shore, waiting to be discovered.” —Erin Morgenstern
Publication Date: September 15, 2020
Published By: Bloomsbury USA
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy
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