British Alternate History Novels

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Commentary (novels not included). Pages: 36. Chapters: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, British Empire in fiction, Anno Dracula series, The Time Ships, The Difference Engine, Bartimaeus, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, The Bloody Red Baron, Gloriana, Warlord of the Air, The Land Leviathan, A Nomad of the Time Streams, Anti-Ice, The Separation, Romanitas, Is Underground, Rome Burning, The Steel Tsar, Black Hearts in Battersea, The Stolen Lake, Headlong, Mothstorm. Excerpt: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is the first novel by British writer Susanna Clarke. An alternative history set in 19th-century England around the time of the Napoleonic Wars, it is based on the premise that magic once existed in England and has returned with two men: Gilbert Norrell and Jonathan Strange. Centering on the relationship between these two men, the novel investigates the nature of "Englishness" and the boundary between reason and madness. It has been described as a fantasy novel, an alternative history, and a historical novel. The narrative draws on various Romantic literary traditions, such as the comedy of manners, the Gothic tale, and the Byronic hero. The novel's language is a pastiche of 19th-century writing styles, such as those of Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. Clarke describes the supernatural with mundane details. She supplements the text with almost 200 footnotes, outlining the backstory and an entire fictional corpus of magical scholarship. Clarke began writing Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell in 1993; ten years later she submitted the manuscript for publication. It was accepted by Bloomsbury and published in September 2004, with illustrations by Portia Rosenberg. Bloomsbury was so sure of its success that they printed 250,000 hardcover copies. The novel was well-received by critics and reached number three on the New York Times bestseller list. It w...