By Paul Carrier
It’s been a long wait, but Susanna Clarke has finally released another novel, following the 2004 publication of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, a fantasy primarily set in early 19th century England.
Piranesi, Clarke’s latest, is a fantasy as well, but not a sequel. The protagonist is Piranesi, a young man who has been living for several years in a gargantuan, statue-filled building of endless vestibules and halls. The first floor is awash in a tidal sea and the third floor is the domain of clouds.
It is on the second floor that Piranesi lives, sharing his domain with wild birds, human skeletons and the Other, a mysterious man who wants Piranesi’s help in researching a Great and Secret Knowledge supposedly stored in the cavernous labyrinth.
Piranesi has no recollection of his life before he entered what he lovingly calls “the House,” or how he got there. Nor does he know anything substantive about the Other, or the identities of the people whose skeletal remains he treats with great respect and tenderness. That changes over time in this memorable and mesmerizing blend of adventure, insight and mystery.
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