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Piranesi

WINNER OF THE AUDIES AUDIOBOOK OF THE YEAR

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Piranesi

By: Susanna Clarke
Narrated by: Chiwetel Ejiofor
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Bloomsbury presents Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, read by Chiwetel Ejiofor.

WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2021
WINNER OF THE KITSCHIES' 2021
SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD
A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE THE TIMES, GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, DAILY TELEGRAPH, FINANCIAL TIMES, i PAPER, NEW STATESMAN, SPECTATOR, TIME MAGAZINE, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, BBC CULTURE, NETGALLEY AND THE CHURCH TIMES

The spectacular new novel from the bestselling author of JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL, ‘one of our greatest living authors’ New York Magazine

Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has.

In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend, the Other. At other times he brings tributes of food to the Dead. But mostly, he is alone.

Messages begin to appear, scratched out in chalk on the pavements. There is someone new in the House. But who are they and what do they want? Are they a friend or do they bring destruction and madness as the Other claims?

Lost texts must be found; secrets must be uncovered. The world that Piranesi thought he knew is becoming strange and dangerous.

The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.

*****

'What a world Susanna Clarke conjures into being … Piranesi is an exquisite puzzle-box' DAVID MITCHELL
‘It subverts expectations throughout … Utterly otherworldly’ Guardian
'Piranesi astonished me. It is a miraculous and luminous feat of storytelling' MADELINE MILLER
‘Brilliantly singular’ Sunday Times
'A gorgeous, spellbinding mystery … This book is a treasure, washed up upon a forgotten shore, waiting to be discovered' ERIN MORGENSTERN
‘Head-spinning … Fully imagined and richly evoked’ Telegraph©2020 Susanna Clarke (P)2020 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Dark Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Magical Realism Heartfelt Mind-Bending
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Critic Reviews

Reminds us of fiction’s power to take us to another world and expand our understanding of this one
It has a daring and a grace that are quietly, transportingly spectacular. If you were looking for a book that distils the concept of wonder, this is the one: it feels like a work of pure generosity (KATHERINE RUNDELL)
It’s always great to have some fiction to heartily recommend, and while there’s been stiff competition this year, Piranesi by Susanna Clarke has won out in the end. A masterful work of weird fiction, it’s a novel that grips, perplexes and moves you, usually all at once!
The fiction, nonfiction and poetry that deepened our understanding, ignited our curiosity and helped us escape … For fantasy readers often eager to get lost in mystical worlds and escape the complications of real life, Piranesi’s predicament deeply resonates
The long-anticipated second novel from the author of 2004’s best-seller Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is a philosophical fantasy. Piranesi (the name is one of several allusions to the 18th century) spends his days interpreting coded messages left around a labyrinthine villa filled with seabirds and symbolic statues
Susanna Clarke’s new novel is a beguiling study of isolation and exile ... To say more would be to ruin one of the year’s more unusual reading experiences
This tale of weird enchanted halls is close to perfect
A warm book about losing and finding oneself; about what humanity could have lost in the process of becoming rational
Purely joyful reading … a delight - as if Borges wrote a novel with a beginning, middle and satisfying end (Naomi Alderman)
My absolute favourite book of the year by miles ... it took root in me (Jenny Colgan)
Like Hilary Mantel, Clarke made the very notion of genre seem quaint ... Piranesi is a tenebrous study in solitude … A remarkable feat, not just of craft but of reinvention
Susanna Clarke's first novel since 2004's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell was more than worth the sixteen-year wait. Full of the magic and mayhem you might expect, Piranesi introduces a labyrinth to savour
Susanna Clarke's long-awaited Piranesi is utterly compelling – bewildering, intense, moving, shocking, combining a haunting fantasy with sharp insights about a culture of domination, hierarchy and rivalry and about how the imagination can survive in such a world (Rowan Williams)
Like a thriller … Compelling … A fever dream - disorientating, engrossing, persistently strange … It burrows into the subconscious, throwing out puzzles long after the final page … Brilliantly singular
Exhilarating and hallucinatory, a mystery told backwards and inside-out. How she does it I've no idea; it's as though most minds are cameras, but Clarke's is a kaleidoscope (Melissa Harrison)
Brilliantly peculiar … It subverts expectations throughout … Utterly otherworldly
All stars
Most relevant
I think the author is a once in a generation talent. This is such a rich work, worthy of being called a modern myth. This reading for audible is sensitive and beautifully paced.

Beautiful and profound

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Spectacular performance by Chiwetel, he really did brought the characters into life. What a masterpiece, thriller in disguise.

Unusual

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I always intended to read Piranesi after reading Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, but I let some time go by as I didn’t really believe it could live up to that wonderful experience. This book is quite different - it is short, its characters are few in number and its world is far less expansive. It is not a sequel to the earlier novel, except in so far as that book prepares you to accept the conceit of parallel worlds. You do not need to have read JS&MN first. Piranesi caught my imagination in the first few pages and held me throughout. This book is spare and clean like a highly polished faceted stone, and I found myself savouring the construction of its world just as much as the development of its narrative. It also made me care for its central character enough to weep for him. The reading is flawless, and I am glad that I experienced this as an audiobook.

A jewel

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Piranesi is a story I will never forget. It is a piece of true myth making, and I wish there were more stories like it in the world. Chiwetel Ejiofor reads it beautifully.

An enchanting tale, read beautifully.

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incredible book, truly top notch. this requires fifteen words, it's my sausage dogs first birthday today.

terrific

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