Books by Susanna Clarke
Piranesi
by Susanna Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor (narrator)
🏆 Winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021
“Piranesi is Susanna Clarke’s very-long-awaited second novel following, obviously, the wonderful Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. This is by far the tightest and most contained narrative of all the books I’m talking about today. It’s the smallest book in terms of page count, a tiny little book, but it’s also the largest in terms of its imaginative space. We open with the character Piranesi – rather, a character who has been given the name Piranesi – in this other-worldly space that he calls the House. The House is his whole world, and it’s rapidly obvious that it is some kind of higher order symbolic world, the platonic world of higher forms, which appears as a giant, damaged and deserted house, of apparently infinite size. It has endless halls and rooms lined with statues that seem to have deep symbolic meaning. The upper level of the House has clouds and birds; the lower levels have an ocean, and there are dangerous tides. Piranesi is the only living inhabitant of the House. There are bones and remains that indicate previous inhabitants, now dead. His only human contact is with a man he calls the Other. The Other shows up and visits the House at intervals from somewhere else. And Piranesi doesn’t remember anything other than the House, so at first we don’t know who he is, or where he came from. As far as he’s concerned, he’s always been there.” Read more...
Vajra Chandrasekera, Novelist
“It’s a magic that feels absolutely real, as if the book were an eyewitness account. Not since Lewis has the supernatural been such a thrilling, immediate, concrete presence on the page. It’s no accident that I began The Magicians in 2004 – Strange is the book that woke me up to the power of the new fantasy. Read it, and you may be woken up too.” Read more...
Lev Grossman, Novelist
Interviews where books by Susanna Clarke were recommended
Dark Academia Books, recommended by Lev Grossman
Dark academia is a phenomenon with deep roots, says bestselling author Lev Grossman. He introduces five of the best examples, covering secret societies, gentleman scholars, boarding schools – and unforgettable descents into darkness. We have long told stories about forbidden knowledge: now, we make it look good.
The Best Historical Fiction, recommended by Tendai Huchu
What is historical fiction? Does it have to be historically accurate? Zimbabwean novelist Tendai Huchu talks us through five important examples of historical novels, including three set in Africa.
The best books on Fantasy, recommended by Lev Grossman
We’re living through a golden age for fantasy, says fantasy novelist and book critic Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians and The Bright Sword. He tells us what makes for a good fantasy novel, and who’s staking out the future not just of fantasy but of fiction as a whole.
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1
Orbital
by Samantha Harvey -
2
Small Things Like These
by Claire Keegan -
3
Piranesi
by Susanna Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor (narrator) -
4
The Invention of Morel
by Adolfo Bioy Casares, translated by Ruth L. C. Simms -
5
Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad -
6
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
by Shirley Jackson
Short Novels
Short Novels
A short novel can be the perfect way to occupy the mind during an empty evening or a long journey. One can also appreciate a well-written book’s true complexity when it can be read and digested in a single, immersive sitting. Here, we’ve pulled together a list of short literary novels—most of them fewer than 200 pages in length—that have been recommended on Five Books over the years.
The Best Science Fantasy, recommended by Vajra Chandrasekera
We use ‘science fantasy’ when a book seems to be both science fiction and fantasy. What distinguishes the two, and what does it mean to combine them? These books are an opportunity to explore our ways of knowing, reflect changing cultures, and find humour in the unexpected, says award-winning fantasy and sci fi author Vajra Chandrasekera.
The Best Ergodic Fiction, recommended by Arianna Reiche
The best fiction doesn’t have to be straightforward, and some novels contain clever devices to make the reader complicit in the story itself. Arianna Reiche, lecturer in metafiction at City, University of London, recommends five gamified novels that subvert our ideas of how fiction works.
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1
Piranesi
by Susanna Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor (narrator) -
2
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
by Malcolm X and assisted by Alex Haley, Laurence Fishburne (narrator) -
3
The City We Became: A Novel (The Great Cities Trilogy)
by N.K. Jemisin & Robin Miles (narrator) -
4
Such a Fun Age
by Kiley Reid & Nicole Lewis (narrator) -
5
More Myself: A Journey
by Alicia Keys
The Best Audiobooks: the 2021 Audie Awards, recommended by Michele Cobb
The Best Audiobooks: the 2021 Audie Awards, recommended by Michele Cobb
There are so many fantastic audiobooks being produced at the moment, across so many genres, that it’s hard to know where to start listening. Fortunately, every year, the judges of the Audie Awards pick out some of the very best. Here, Michele Cobb, Executive Director of the Audio Publishers Association, talks us through some of the 2021 winners, including the ‘audiobook of the year.’
Favourite Novels of 2020, recommended by Cal Flyn
Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn selects her favourite novels from among those published in 2020: the year of the lockdown, a time when many of us found escapism and solace between the covers of a book. Her own book, Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape, a work of literary nonfiction, is out in January.