Magical Ladies

Above all remember this: that magic belongs as much to the heart as to the head and everything which is done, should be done from love or joy or righteous anger.

While I have a lot of backlog posts in mind, I decided to pick up Susanna Clarke's The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories, if only to jumpstart my RIP Challenge V. I needed it, you see. I'm having trouble with slow starts and I'm having the slowest of slow starts with The Town that Forgot How to Breathe. It's not the book's fault really, but mine. I see the hauntings: the ghostly appearance of a little girl in the barn, the smell of stinky fish, a sea monster found floating at sea (Oh wait, that's another book entirely - Lauren Groff's The Monsters of Templeton), at least two people on the verge of dying. All these things are signs of things yet to come and yet, with a measly number of minutes allowed to me before sleep I cannot move on just yet with the story.

I will be doing Short Story Peril today with The Ladies of Grace Adieu. Picking this up reminded me of how much I adored Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell when I read that about five years ago. It tells the tale of three women, all practitioners of magic: the second Mrs. Fields, Cassandra Parbringer, and Miss Tobias, in a village called Grace Adieu in Gloucestershire. The events of the story took place during Jonathan Strange's visit to his brother-in-law Mr. Henry Woodhope, a rector enamored of Cassandra. During those times, women practitioners of magic were rarely known. Rather, they keep to themselves. And they believe in and respect The Raven King.

There is a certain familiarity to the manner by which the story is written if at least you've read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Plus, Jonathan Strange is here in the story, so with Arabella, his wife. But the focal point of this tale is basically the titular ladies.

This story has all the perfect ingredients for a great read: a short background, a possible entanglement, an impending doom, a rescue mission, and a meeting of considerable importance, all in 32 pages. Well, that's as far as I can say without actually spoiling it. But gee, it was a charming read despite its darkness. There is a slight humor in the darkness actually, because bad things happen to presumably bad people, which somehow makes it easier to digest. Besides, the protective mantle shown by the three ladies is formidable magic enough that even Jonathan Strange recognized and would like to learn from. Oh dear, this story made me pull off my copy of that big block of a book off my shelves wanting to reread it! Tsk tsk tsk.

One of the things I adored with Clarke's novel and extends up to this story (and quite possibly the entire collection) is this: she has created a perfectly believable, magical world fit for the Napoleonic era. It feels like a story of manners on the one hand (and yes, it is) and yet a story of magic on another. Which is simply delicious. It also reminded me of Northanger Abbey, somewhat, with the reference to Mrs. Radcliffe's novels.

I'll go through the rest of the stories in due time. But for now consider picking up this imaginative tale and be delighted by the possibility that three seemingly regular ladies out for a walk on a starlit evening are magicians indeed, out to protect kids from a dire fate.

And if you haven't read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell yet, why haven't you? I'm thinking of rereading it this year, I mean this month. Which would somehow throw off my planned reads for the season.

Other interesting point of view:

Rememorandom