Womens Prize For Fiction Winner
Piranesi
by Susanna Clarke
Summary
A gentle man lives alone in an endless labyrinth of tidal halls filled with statues, keeping careful journals of its wonders and its single other inhabitant. Clarke slowly reveals the truth of his captivity and identity, building a haunting puzzle about memory, innocence and the cost of knowledge. The slim, strange novel cast a spell utterly unlike her sprawling debut.
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Historical Context & Significance
Susanna Clarke wrote Piranesi during years of chronic illness, sixteen years after her acclaimed first novel.