Reading the Chunksters discussion

Sorry, I have taken my eye off this discussion, so I will start the next two threads now. This one covers chapters chapters 40 to 42, in which Strange "helps" Wellington at Waterloo, we catch up with Segundus as he proposes starting a school of magic, and Strange starts to write his book.

Chapter summaries (beware spoilers):
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40. ”Depend upon it; there is no such place”

Bonaparte returns from his exile in Elba. Wellington goes to Belgium to await the French army, and Strange goes with him. Strange finds Brussels full of English nobles and worrie about how they will cope when war arrives. Wellington tells him that this army is the worst he has commanded, but the Prussian general Blucher has promised support. Unfortunately Blucher is mad, and thinks he is pregnant with a baby elephant. Strange starts to search for the French in his mirror and discovers that they are at Quatre Bois, not the direction Wellington was expecting. Strange tries to help, and Brussels finds itself in rural America. Strange manages to send messages to the armies in Belgium telling them to head for Quatre Bras. Strange returns Brussels to Belgium, and tries to perform helpful magic, but Wellington finds him and tells him his spells are confusing his own side more than the French. He is told that the French reserves are approaching from the South, so he retreats to the farm, where he moves roads and villages to confuse them. The next day a battle is planned for Waterloo. Strange orders rain. Later he tries to order the crops to entangle themselves in French feet, but this has little effect. Wellington asks him to put out a fire at the chateau at Hougoumont. Strange is forced to break his vow never to use magic to kill a man, and becomes dazed, but is eventually told that the battle has been won.

41. Starecross

Segundus has run short of money and needs to find a job. He rejects Honeyfoot’s suggestion that he should apply to be Strange’s assistant, and starts giving lessons in magic to young boys and girls. A gentleman called Palmer engages him to look at a library that is being sold to decide whether anything is worth buying. He finds the house, Starecross Hall, in a remote village but it seems to be deserted. He eventually finds a man drinking brandy in a small closet, who agrees to show him to the library. He spends a few hours looking at the books, starts to feel hungry and goes in search of food. He gets lost again but eventually finds a parlour, where there is a young lady missing a finger, who disappears. An older woman appears and Segundus faints. When he comes round, two older women are looking down at him. They introduce themselves as Mrs Lennox and Mrs Blake, her companion. Mrs Lennox owns the house but spends most of her time in Bath. They share their meal with Segundus, who tells them he is a magician. Mrs Lennox is interested, but tells him she sold her magic books years ago to a gentleman neat York. Mrs Lennox proposes that she lend him the money to start a magic school at the house. He does not want to take the risk, so the then proposes making it her school and appointing him as master. The Honeyfoots are pleased for him, and write to friends in Bath who confirm that Mrs Lennox Is well known there. Her enquiries about Segundus are also positive, and they start work on the school. Segundus is shocked by the expense, but Mrs Lennox insists on going ahead. He gets a letter from Strange congratulating him. One day he receives a visitor in a black coat who tells him not to open the school, introducing himself as Childermass and reminding him they have met before. Childermass starts to leave, but proposes compromising by making it a normal school. Mrs Lennox writes an angry letter to Norrell but gets no reply, and starts getting complaints from other partners. Honeyfoot suggests writing to Strange, and a letter is sent, but he does not reply.

42. Strange decides to write a book

Lascelles tells Norrell that Strange is writing a book, “The History and Practice of English Magic”, which will be published by John Murray. Norrell gets his silver dish and sees Strange at work writing. One evening Stephen is polishing silver in his room at the Poles’. His polishing clothers start to remove themselves, and his coat dons itself. The room disappears and he finds himself in a room full of gold and silver dishes heaped with food. The gentleman with thistle-down hair is sitting there. He tells Stephen they are in Jerusalem Coffee House in Cowper’s Court, which Stephen has been to with Walter. The gentleman has ordered an exact copy of a meal he had there 4-500 years earlier, with many rare and magical ingredients. The earlier dinner celebrated a departure for a Crusade. The gentleman is struggling to understand Strange why he stopped him inviting the King to his fairy house. Stephen suggests that Strange did not understand who he was. He starts talking about his plans to make Stephen King, and mentions that he is starting to like another young lady more than Lady Pole, and wants to bring her to Lost-hope. He asks Stephen to help him to lure her away, and expects him to know about the fairy tools used for finding the moss-oak he needs. Stephen falls asleep and has more strange dreams. He wakes and is told that they are now in Scotland, where they eventually manage to dig out the moss-oak.
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I think the war antics are very amusing so I like these sections of the book. I'm hopeful that the school of magic actually works out because I think that would be an interesting counterpoint to the magic 'monopoly' that we see in the book currently.