Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell

Description:

Published in 2004, it is an alternative history set in 19th-century England around the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Its premise is that magic once existed in England and has returned with two men: Gilbert Norrell and Jonathan Strange. Centred on the relationship between these two men, the novel investigates the nature of "Englishness" and the boundaries between reason and unreason, Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Dane, and Northern and Southern English cultural tropes/stereotypes. It has been described as a fantasy novel, an alternative history, and a historical novel. It inverts the Industrial Revolution conception of the North-South divide in England: in this book the North is romantic and magical, rather than rational and concrete.

subjects: England, fiction,  Fiction, historical,  Fiction, historical, general,  Literature,  award:hugo_award=2005,  Fantasy fiction,  Fairies,  Fiction,  Hugo Award Winner,  Fantasy,  Magicians,  Teacher-student relationships,  award:hugo_award=novel,  Historical fiction,  Teacher-student relationship,  Magic,  London (england), fiction,  Fiction, fantasy, historical,  Teachers, fiction,  Great britain, fiction,  History,  English literature

Places: London (England),  York (England)