Piranesi - Susanna Clarke

After reading Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell last year and loving it, I was super excited to see that Susanna Clarke had published a new novel - and not only that, but it has been a resounding success. Piranesi has just won the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction and it's not hard to see why.

This is certainly a far cry from Clarke's first monstrous novel - at just short of 250 pages, Piranesi drops the reader right into the action as we are introduced to the eponymous protagonist and his vast home, in which only him and one person, The Other, reside. His home is his universe - which he has carefully explored and documented in numerous journals - and he is only aware that thirteen other people (the bones of whom lie about the rooms) have ever lived on earth.

How did Piranesi come to exist? He doesn't remember. He has few possessions and his interactions with The Other are vague and sporadic. This is his life - until strange chalk messages begin to appear on the walls warning him of imminent danger. Piranesi has never questioned his place or his life, until now. This sixteenth person throws his entire existence into flux and his clouded memory begins to offer snapshots into his past.

This novel is astounding - short in length but really packs a punch and it's unlike anything I've ever read. I loved the nods to mythology such as the labyrinthine House in which Piranesi lives and explores, and the eerie statues of minotaurs and other beings which peer out from the darkened halls. This captivating story was utterly mesmerising, and almost lulls you into a dreamlike state.

This second novel by Clarke is extremely different from her first - I almost missed her lengthy footnotes which peppered Jonathan Strange - but nonetheless brilliant. I'm super excited to discuss this on Sunday at a book club I'm attending as there is just masses to talk about!