The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories Read online

  Praise for The Ladies of Grace Adieu

  "Tantalizing . . . those who were left thirsting for more, as well as the uninitiated, can get a fresh taste of Clarke's magical world in these stories . . . All the intellectual elements that won Clarke so much critical acclaim for her novel are here . . . The stories in The Ladies of Grace Adieu have a magic and a sleight of hand that keeps readers turning pages because they care about what happens to the characters . . . The Ladies of Grace Adieu proves enchanting."

  —Miami Herald

  "A sly, frequently comical, feminist revision of the richly detailed fictional history that Clarke wrote in her 2004 novel."

  —Chicago Tribune

  "A lovely companion piece to the novel. . . with illustrations by Charles Vess, an artist whose style is reminiscent of the great Arthur Rackham, harking back to the early 20th-century golden age of children's book illustrations . . . While Ladies of Grace Adieu might inspire new readers to buckle down, do those pushups, and pick up the 782-page Jonathan Strange, its more likely audience is those who have already finished that novel and are experiencing such withdrawal that they are perusing scientific texts about sea cucumbers, searching for footnotes."

  —Christian Science Monitor

  "If you read Clarke's first book, you will take to Ladies like jam to warm scones . . . The author's wry, knowing narrative voice owes debts to Jane Austen, Bram Stoker and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and the delightful illustrations by Charles Vess borrow from 19th-century fairy-tale collections, art deco and Edward Gorey."

  —Seattle Times

  "Whimsical and magical . . . Beautifully illustrated by Eisner and World Fantasy Award-winning artist Charles Vess, The Ladies of Grace Adieu offers a double dose of magic: entertainment for the eyes and the imagination."

  —Denver Post

  "Fans of her single novel will enjoy all of the stories in The Ladies of Grace Adieu. They are uniformly clever and meticulously composed, knowledgeable of folk traditions while giving them a modern spin."

  —San Francisco Chronicle

  "The Ladies of Grace Adieu is like a tapas plate, delicately spiced and carefully presented . . . In essence, it's a collection of fairy tales, but Clarke's version of fairies is as refined and idiosyncratic as her writing . . . For those who haven't read Jonathan Strange yet, Grace Adieu could just as well serve as a tempting appetizer, a way to ease into Clarke's magical and thoroughly winning world."

  —Onion

  "Fans of Susanna Clarke who loved her long, dense, carefully embroidered meander through Napoleonic England—the best-selling 800-page Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell—will be delighted . . . Clarke presents eight short stories that are new and captivating, and that occupy—psychologically, and sometimes physically—the same antique landscape explored so thoroughly in her first novel . . . Clarke is having fun here, clearly. We should, too."

  —Buffalo News

  "Revisiting characters and landscapes she created in her best-selling Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Clarke has crafted eight quirky and devious stories to delight her fans . . . Ms. Clarke uses the langauge, diction, and historical settings beautifully, just hinting at Jane Austen. Each character is elegantly drawn and comes to life on the page. These stories are charming, engaging, and deceptively simple."

  —Booklist

  "Beguiling narrative energy and mischievous wit . . . Irresistible storytelling, from a splendidly gifted enchantress."

  —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

  THE LADIES OF GRACE ADIEU

  AND OTHER STORIES

  BY THE SAME AUTHOR

  Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

  First published in Great Britain 2006

  Copyright © Susanna Clark

  This electronic edition published 2009 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  The right of Susanna Clark to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

  Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 36 Soho Square, London W1D 3QY

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  eISBN: 978-1-40880-933-4

  www.bloomsbury.com/susannaclark

  Visit www.bloomsbury.com to find out more about our authors and their books. You will find extracts, authors interviews, author events and you can sign up for newsletters to be the first to hear about our latest releases and special offers.

  Acknowledgements

  These stories would never have come into being had it not been for the following people: Colin Greenland and Geoff Ryman (who made me write my first short story when I really didn't want to), Neil Gaiman, Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Terri Windling, Ellen Datlow and Charles Vess. My love and thanks to them all.

  For my parents, Janet and Stuart Clarke

  CONTENTS

  1 Introduction by Professor James Sutherland, Director of Sidhe Studies, University of Aberdeen

  The Ladies of Grace Adieu

  On Lickerish Hill

  Mrs Mabb

  The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse

  Mr Simonelli or The Fairy Widower

  Tom Brightwind or How the Fairy Bridge Was Built at Thoresby

  Antickes and Frets

  John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner

  Introduction

  by Professor James Sutherland, Director of Sidhe Studies, University of Aberdeen

  I HAVE APPROACHED THIS collection with two very modest aims in mind. The first is to throw some sort of light on the development of magic in the British Isles at different periods; the second is to introduce the reader to some of the ways in which Faerie can impinge upon our own quotidian world, in other words to create a sort of primer to Faerie and fairies.

  The title story, "The Ladies of Grace Adieu", falls into the first category, with a poignant depiction of the difficulties faced by female magicians during the early nineteenth century - a time when their work was simply dismissed by their male counterparts (here amply represented by Gilbert Norrell and Jonathan Strange). The events of the story were referred to in a somewhat obscure novel published a few years ago. Should any readers happen to be acquainted with Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell Bloomsbury, London, 2004), then I direct their attention to a footnote in chapter 43 which describes how Jonathan Strange went to some trouble to extract his clergyman brother-in-law from a living in Gloucestershire and get him a different living in Northamptonshire. "The Ladies of Grace Adieu" provides a fuller explanation of Strange's rather enigmatic actions.

  "On Lickerish Hill" and "Antickes and Frets" both describe the somewhat easier, less fraught relationship with fairies and magic which our English and Scottish ancestors once enjoyed.

  "Mr Simonelli or the Fairy Widower" is an extract from the diaries of Alessandro Simonelli. Simonelli is, of course, a monstrously irritating writer; at every turn he displays the conceit and arrogance of his race. (And I am talking here of the English and not of anyone else). An editor is advised to approach his diaries with caution. Simonelli published them first in the mid-i820s. Twenty years later he revised them and published them again. He did the same thing in the late 1860s. Indeed throughout the nineteenth century and ea
rly twentieth century his diaries and memoirs were being continually rewritten and brought out in new editions; and at each stage Simonelli reworked his past in order to promote his latest obsession whether that be ancient Sumerian history, the education of women, the improvement of Sidhe (fairy) morals, the provision of bibles for the heathen or the efficacy of a new sort of soap. In an attempt to circumvent this problem I have chosen an extract from the first edition which describes the beginning of Simo-nelli's extraordinary career. We can but hope that it bears some sort of relation to what actually happened.

  In the years that followed Waterloo dealings between the Sidhe (fairies) and the British increased. British politicians debated the "Fairy Question" this way and that, but all agreed it was vital to the national interest. Yet if these stories demonstrate nothing else it is the appalling unpreparedness of the average nineteenth-century gentleman when he accidentally stumbled into Faerie. The Duke of Wellington is a case in point. Women do seem to have fared somewhat better in these perplexing circumstances; the heroine of "Mrs Mabb", Venetia Moore, consistently demonstrates an ability to intuit the rules of Faerie, which the older and more experienced Duke is quite without.

  "Tom Brightwind or How the Fairy Bridge Was Built at Thoresby" remains a tale replete with interest for the student of Faerie. However I see no reason to revise my earlier assessment of the story given in 1999 (and deserving, I think, to be more widely known). The reader will find it prefacing the tale itself.

  I have chosen to finish with a story from that wonderful writer, John Waterbury, Lord Portishead. Apart from the period 18081816 when he was under the thumb of Gilbert Norrell, Waterbury's writings and in particular his retelling of old tales of the Raven King are a continual delight. "John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner" is an example of that genre of stories (much loved by the medievals) in which the rich and powerful are confounded by their social inferiors. (I am thinking here of the tales of Robin Hood or the ballad, "King John and the Abbot of Canterbury"). In medieval Northern England no one was richer or more powerful than John Uskglass and consequently Northern English folklore abounds with tales in which Uskglass tumbles down holes in the ground, falls in love with unsuitable ladies or for various complicated and unlikely reasons finds himself obliged to cook porridge for harassed innkeepers' wives.

  The sad truth is that nowadays - as at all periods of our history - misinformation about Faerie assails us from every side. It is through stories such as these that the serious student of Sidhe culture may make a window for herself into Faerie and snatch a glimpse of its complexity, its contradictions and its perilous fascinations.

  James Sutherland Aberdeen, April 2006

  ABOVE ALL REMEMBER this: that magic belongs as much to the heart as to the head and everything which is done, should be done from love or joy or righteous anger.

  And if we honour this principle we shall discover that our magic is much greater than all the sum of all the spells that were ever taught. Then magic is to us as flight is to the birds, because then our magic comes from the dark and dreaming heart, just as the flight of a bird comes from the heart. And we will feel the same joy in performing that magic that the bird feels as it casts itself into the void and we will know that magic is part of what a man is, just as flight is part of what a bird is.

  This understanding is a gift to us from the Raven King, the dear king of all magicians, who stands between England and the Other Lands, between all wild creatures and the world of men.

  From The Book of the Lady Catherine of Winchester (1209-67), translated from the Latin by Jane Tobias (1775-1819)

  When Mrs Field died, her grieving widower looked around him and discovered that the world seemed quite as full of pretty, young women as it had been in his youth. It further occurred to him that he was just as rich as ever and that, though his home already contained one pretty, young woman (his niece and ward, Cassandra Parbringer), he did not believe that another would go amiss. He did not think that he was at all changed from what he had been and Cassandra was entirely of his opinion, for (she thought to herself) I am sure, sir, that you were every bit as tedious at twenty-one as you are at forty-nine. So Mr Field married again. The lady was pretty and clever and only a year older than Cassandra, but, in her defence, we may say that she had no money and must either marry Mr Field or go and be a teacher in a school. The second Mrs Field and Cassandra were very pleased with each other and soon became very fond of each other. Indeed the sad truth was that they were a great deal fonder of each other than either was of Mr Field. There was another lady who was their friend (her name was Miss Tobias) and the three were often seen walking together near the village where lived - Grace Adieu in Gloucestershire.

  Cassandra Parbringer at twenty was considered an ideal of a certain type of beauty to which some gentlemen are particularly partial. A white skin was agreeably tinged with pink. Light blue eyes harmonized very prettily with silvery-gold curls and the whole was a picture in which womanliness and childishness were sweetly combined. Mr Field, a gentleman not remarkable for his powers of observation, confidently supposed her to have a character childishly naive and full of pleasant, feminine submission in keeping with her face.

  Her prospects seemed at this time rather better than Mrs Field's had been. The people of Grace Adieu had long since settled it amongst themselves that Cassandra should marry the Rector, Mr Henry Woodhope and Mr Woodhope himself did not seem at all averse to the idea.

  "Mr Woodhope likes you, Cassandra, I think," said Mrs Field.

  "Does he?"

  Miss Tobias (who was also in the room) said, "Miss Parbringer is wise and keeps her opinion of Mr Woodhope to herself."

  "Oh," cried Cassandra, "you may know it if you wish. Mr Woodhope is Mr Field stretched out a little to become more thin and tall. He is younger and therefore more disposed to be agreeable and his wits are rather sharper. But when all is said and done he is only Mr Field come again."

  'Why then do you give him encouragement?" asked Mrs Field. "

  "Because I suppose that I must marry someone and Mr Woodhope has this to recommend him - that he lives in Grace Adieu and that in marrying him I need never be parted from my dear Mrs Field."

  "It is a very poor ambition to wish to marry a Mr Field of any sort," sighed Mrs Field. "Have you nothing better to wish for?"

  Cassandra considered. "I have always had a great desire to visit Yorkshire," she said. "I imagine it to be just like the novels of Mrs Radcliffe."

  "It is exactly like everywhere else," said Miss Tobias.

  "Oh, Miss Tobias," said Cassandra, "how can you say so? If magic does not linger in Yorkshire, where may we find it still? 'Upon the moors, beneath the stars, With the Kings wild Company/ That is my idea of Yorkshire."

  "But," said Miss Tobias, "a great deal of time has passed since the Kings wild Company was last there and in the meantime Yorkshiremen have acquired tollgates and newspapers and stagecoaches and circulating libraries and everything most modern and commonplace."

  Cassandra sniffed. "You disappoint me," she said.

  Miss Tobias was governess to two little girls at a great house in the village, called Winter's Realm. The parents of these children were dead and the people of Grace Adieu were fond of telling each other that it was no house for children, being too vast and gloomy and full of odd-shaped rooms and strange carvings. The younger child was indeed often fearful and often plagued with nightmares. She seemed, poor little thing, to believe herself haunted by owls. There was nothing in the world she feared so much as owls. No one else had ever seen the owls, but the house was old and full of cracks and holes to let them in and full of fat mice to tempt them so perhaps it were true. The governess was not much liked in the village: she was too tall, too fond of books, too grave, and - a curious thing never smiled unless there was some thing to smile at. Yet Miss Ursula and Miss Flora were very prettily behaved children and seemed greatly attached to Miss Tobias.

  Despite their future greatness as heiresses,
in the article of relations the children were as poor as churchmice. Their only guardian was a cousin of their dead mother. In all the long years of their orphanhood this gentleman had only visited them twice and once had written them a very short letter at Christmas. But, because Captain Winbright wore a redcoat and was an officer in the _____ shires, all his absences and silences were forgiven and Miss Ursula and Miss Flora (though only eight and four years old) had begun to shew all the weakness of their sex by preferring him to all the rest of their acquaintance.

  It was said that the great-grandfather of these children had studied magic and had left behind him a library. Miss Tobias was often in the library and what she did there no one knew. Of late her two friends, Mrs Field and Miss Parbringer, had also been at the house a great deal. But it was generally supposed that they were visiting the children. For ladies (as every one knows) do not study magic. Magicians themselves are another matter - ladies (as every one knows) are wild to see magicians. (How else to explain the great popularity of Mr Norrell in all the fashionable drawing rooms of London? Mr Norrell is almost as famous for his insignificant face and long silences as he is for his incomparable magicianship and Mr Norrell's pupil, Mr Strange, with his almost handsome face and lively conversation is welcome where ever he goes.) This then, we will suppose, must explain a question which Cassandra Parbringer put to Miss Tobias on a day in September, a very fine day on the cusp of summer and autumn.

  "And have you read Mr Strange's piece in The Review? What is your opinion of it?"

  "I thought Mr Strange expressed himself with his customary clarity. Any one, whether or not they understand any thing of the theory and practice of magic, might understand him. He was witty and sly, as he generally is. It was altogether an admirable piece of writing. He is a clever man, I think."