The Ladies of Grace Adieu: And Other Stories

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 early 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.