"Clarke's imagination is prodigious, her pacing is masterly and she knows how to employ dry humor in the service of majesty." -- Gregory Maguire, The New York Times Book Review "The book I wish I'd written." -- R. F. Kuang, #1 New York Times bestselling author of BABEL and YELLOWFACE "A fiercely funny, beautiful writer, Clarke attacks her subject with the wit and craft of a Dickens or Austen, effortlessly mixing historical figures and events in with her magical ones. And that magic: nobody writes about magic the way Clarke does . She writes about magic as if she's actually worked it." -- Lev Grossman, TIME Magazine "The writing is captivating, the characters charming, and the notion that perhaps there's more to reality than what our senses tell us is, as Clarke might say with a smile, simply enchanting.

" -- NPR "Ms. Clarke's fertile imagination takes her readers to many a mysterious realm." -- The New York Times "The most sparkling literary debut of the year." -- Salon "Susanna Clarke writes with an intelligence and beauty that seems at times miraculous." -- Katherine Rundell "Many people have leapt into the historical fantasy space since Clarke, but no one has ever written anything quite like this-I'm not sure anyone ever will." -- LitHub.