Elizabeth Hopkinson's Hidden Grove

 In these chilled-out days that bring the Christmas season to an end and crank the new year into a slow beginning, I’m looking back over the benign influence of Susanna Clarke on the Christmas I’ve just had. It began well before Christmas - in November, in fact - with my annual re-read of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Such a comfort read during the long, dark nights!  Then there was the happy discovery of a short story by Susanna Clarke on BBC Sounds (radio and podcast app). “ The Wood at Midwinter ” is about a 19th century girl called Merowdis who converses with animals, and sees the wood as a cathedral and the cathedral as a wood. I’m still trying to find out whether it’s based on a true story. It has all the whimsy and strangeness you would expect from Susanna Clarke. And after Christmas, I was spending some birthday money in town (yes, I have a Christmas birthday, and no, I don’t hate it) when I came across the board game of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell for half ...

  Warning: contains spoilers A while back, I wrote a blog entitled Let’s Talk About Narnia  in which I bemoaned the fact that many authors seem to express disappointment with Narnia because of its “Christian allegory”. I’ve always felt that to say so is to not really “get” Narnia. For a start, it’s not even an allegory! And it has so many hidden depths, so many influences. If you want to truly understand Narnia, you must understand C.S. Lewis as an academic, an intellectual, apologist and medievalist, who debated with his fellow intellectuals, JRR Tolkien, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams a.k.a. The Inklings, and absorbed their ideas into his own.  Or you could read Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi . It’s a strange tale of a man called Piranesi (although he’s sure that’s not his name) who lives in a House of Gormenghast-like proportions, filled with statues, birds and tides. Twice a week, he meets with “The Other”, a surprisingly well-dressed and well-equipped man, whom Piranesi ...

Earlier this week, I had a short break in York.  And I did something I've been meaning to do for years - go around the Minster in an attempt to identify the statues Susanna Clarke brings to life in her novel of quarrelling Regency magicians, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I'm probably not the first fan of the book to do this, and I'm sure I won't be the last.  But I'd like to share with you my candidates for the identities of those marvellous statues.  You may disagree.  After all, nothing comes more naturally to magicians! The Cathedral of York, from a window in High Petergate, home of Mr Honeyfoot. Peering up into the gloom of the chancel, where little stone figures jut out.  One begins to speak... "...this was the man who had murdered the girl...We know where he is buried.  In the corner of the south transept!" One of the fifteen stone kings.  (With other, smaller statues above). "...a little group of queer figures with linked arms...atop an an...

I'm writing this little blog in response to a blog by Book Riot.  http://bookriot.com/?p=109205 You know the sort of thing: if you could go back in time and hand some books to your 12-year-old self...?  So, without further ado, here's my list (in no particular order): 1.  Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne I was about 18 when I first read it, and knew I would have loved it earlier. 2. The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien My young self actually thought this was a rival to Narnia, and had no idea Lewis and Tolkien were friends. 3. The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder The book that turned me back to contemporary fiction, after about a decade hiding in the 19th century in case Angela Carter jumped out at me again. 4. Overcoming Low Self-Esteem by Melanie Fennel Enough said. 5. The Dalemark Quartet by Diana Wynne Jones How did I miss her at time of writing?? 6. The Lais of Marie de France So I wouldn't have to wait until uni to know I didn't need to give up fairy...

Well, it's 2015!  My Christmas decorations are coming down, which is very sad, but there are lots of things to look forward to in the new year.  Of course, no one can predict the future, but these are some of the arts and history things I'm looking forward to this year: 1. A glut of costume dramas exploding onto my TV as the new year kicks off.   The Musketeers, Grand Hotel, Foyle's War a nd Mr Selfridge , to name but four I know of. 2. Watching my two Christmas gift DVDs that I haven't yet seen: the new La Belle et la Bête and Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart. 3. Going to the Sam Wannamaker Playhouse in London to see Farinelli and the King  in February.  Not only is the play about my all-time 18th-century icon and the subject of one of my most popular blogs, but it's in a theatre I've been dying to see, and stars Iestyn Davies, one of my favourite countertenor singers. 4. The Manga Jiman Competition exhibition at the Embassy of Japan.  My daughter is invo...