Reading the Chunksters discussion

This topic is for discussion of chapters 66 to 69, i.e. the last four chapters, in which dramatic events occur and many loose ends are resolved. You can also discuss the book as a whole here.

Chapter summaries (as always these are full of spoilers):

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66. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell

Norrell looks back at the corridor, then hears a sound from the library – Strange exclaiming in exasperation over a book. The room is full of light. Strange is thinner than Norrell remembers, is badly shaved and has ragged hair. Strange recites lists of people stolen into Faerie and says Norrell was never able to solve the problem. Strange says he likes Norrell’s labyrinth. Norrell asks how long Strange has been in the Darkness. Strange says since December, which Norrell tells him is three months. Norrell asks why Strange is not angry with his betrayal. Norrell suggests that Strange’s actions were aimed at thwarting him, but Strange tells him he is trying to save his wife. Strange asks for Norrell’s help to break her enchantment. Norrell says he is no longer the superior magician. Strange says he needs Uskglass’s help, and needs Norrell’s help to summon him. Strange tells Norrell he is afraid, Norrell is too. Norrell explains that the difficulty is knowing Uskglass’s true name. He explains what books they need. His excitement at doing magic with Strange starts to overcome his terror. He gives Norrell a piece of paper entitled “Mr Strange’s spell of summoning and tells Strange he has made some minor changes to the spell Strange used to summon Maria Absalom at the Shadow House. Norrell says they need precautions to ensure Arabella’s safety, something to build a magical road and a door to allow Arabella to leave Faerie. Strange says he has already done this. He starts to recite the spell, and lights a candle. The candle goes out and the room fills with ravens that batter everything including Strange. They stop and the room is silent. Strange calls for Norrell but gets no answer. He manages to light a candle and sees that the room is in disarray. Norrell is half-sitting, half-lying on the floor – his eyes are open but look blank. Norrell says they “can assume they have his attention”. Norrell asks if the books are safe, Strange pulls one from the floor and starts reading from it. They search for the silver dish and eventually find it. Norrell goes to the river and fills it with water. Strange appears behind him, surprised not to be in the library. Norrell tries to move out of the Darkness, but again Strange appears by him. Norrell says the spell is keeping them together. Strange suggests trying to summon Uskglass by name, and Norrell does the magic and finds that Uskglass is in Yorkshire,

67. The hawthorn tree

Childermass crosses a moor and sees a man hanging from a hawthorn tree, stripped to show his deformation. Childermass sees the marks beneath his skin. He recognises Vinculus and cuts the body down. The marks cover most of his body. Childermass recognises the King’s letters as Findhelm’s Book. He finds his knife and considers copying the marks onto his own body, but soon discovers that this will not work, and goes to the horse. He looks back and sees a man bending over the body. He thinks he recognises the man and tells him the body is his, and he should leave it alone. The man argues that it is his. Childermass is mystified that the man seems well dressed but has no carriage or horse. The man says that the land belongs to him, as does Childermass who said so three days earlier. The man takes something from his mouth and puts it on Vinculus’s. The corpse stirs. Childermass fires his pistol at the man but the bullet refuses to fly, changes into a lapwing and flies away. The man tells Childermass that Vinculus is not dead, and starts drawing symbols on Childermass. Childermass comes to alone and sees the gun, which is still warm. Vinculus stands and tries to speak, but a strange scream emerges. Childermass tells Vinculus he has saved him and asks him how a man comes to be a book. Vinculus tells him he went to see the last man who could read the book, who told England’s destiny to him. Vinculus mentions the nameless slave who will be King. Vinculus says that Norrell and Strange are the spell Uskglass is doing.

68. ”Yes.”

In the dish of water a speck of light flickers. Norrell suggests more spells, but says they will achieve nothing. They start to search for a book. The gentleman with thistle-down hair walks to Starecross. Stephen feels powerless. At the hall Lady Pole is writing to Lord Liverpool and The Times. Segundus’s servant Charles comes to tell her Stephen has arrived in the village wearing a silver diadem with a gentleman with thistle-down hair in a green coat. Lady Pole urges Segundus to try to defeat the fairy. At Hurtfew, Strange and Norrell have found the book they need. Norrell casts a spell for the nameless slave who is in Yorkshire near Starecross. Norrell thinks this is not Uskglass, but Strange disagrees. Strange asks the trees, hills, sunlight, water, birds, earth and stones to place themselves in the hands of the nameless slave. Stephen and the gentleman arrive at the packhorse bridge. The gentleman steps onto the bridge, Stephen follows him and everything changes. The sun comes out, the trees start writing and ask Stephen a question, and he says Yes. A line in the sky hails Stephen as a king long missed. It asks Stephen a question and he says Yes. He is asked more questions and continues to say Yes. Lady Pole and Segundus see the gentleman and Lady Pole looks at him with hatred. The gentleman asks Stephen something and he says Yes. The gentleman raises his hand to start casting a spell on Lady Pole. Stephen speaks to the bridge, which says Yes and casts the gentleman into the beck. The beck says Yes and carries him away. Stephen hears Lady Pole speak, and sees Segundus try to say something. The gentleman tries to tempt Stephen by offering to tell him his real name, to which Stephen tells him “I am the nameless slave, that is all I have ever been - and today I am content to be nothing more”. He speaks to the millstones, which fling themselves over the gentleman. The rocks do the same, and he asks the dale to help. He starts to feel his helpers withdraw. In Padua the Greysteels gather. They are arguing about Dr Greysteel’s smoking. Dr Greysteel looks up and sees that his head is black. He looks at Flora’s mirror, and where his head should be he sees a dark spot that moves. It looks like a woman fleeing. The woman appears behind the mirror, Flora helps her to descend. The woman surveys the room and asks if she is in Faerie. They say no. She asks if she is in England, they say no. Flora tells her they are in Padua in Italy. She explains that she is waiting there at the woman’s husband’s request, and that he said they would meet here. Dr Greysteel asks if she is Arabella, and she says yes. Stephen wakes lying on frozen ground in a narrow dale. He sees the crown, orb and sceptre in pools of dirty water. He hears someone calling for Stephen, and recognises Lady Pole’s voice, but rejects his slave name, picks up the crown, orb and sceptre and walks. He comes to a hill and recognises Lost-hope. He sees bones and armour everywhere, decaying fast. He finds himself becoming more fairylike. He sees that Lost-hope is changed. A fairy tells him that the King is dead and the new King approaches, and says the changes in Lost-hope far surpass what he has done in England. The new king sits on an ancient throne, saying that the house is disordered and dirty but he will set it right. A wind blows through Hurtfew. Papers dance and an ancient bell rings. Visions appear in the library’s mirrors and clock faces. All except one disappear – a round black stone of great brilliance and glossiness, set in rough stone, mounted on a black hillside. The wind dies away and the bell stops. Norrell asks Strange what he thinks has happened. Norrell says he thinks the last vision was an eye, and Strange says it was a raven’s eye, and that Uskglass has looked at him. Norrell starts looking at the dish. They cannot locate Uskglass, but find that Lady Pole is in Yorkshire and Lady Strange in Italy, with no shadows in Faerie, which means their enchantment is over. Norrell says they have achieved everything they wanted to but he has no idea how. The Darkness remains. Strange says he is cured, and no longer wants to see Uskglass. Norrell starts to tell another story.

69. Strangeites and Norrellites

Childermass rides, and Vinculus walks by his side. Childermass cannot decide whether to show Vinculus to Strange and Norrell. He touches his scar. Childermass asks Vinculus what the matter is. Vinculus says he has changed, and the words are different. He undresses. Childermass says they should find an inn so that he can write down the new words. Vinculus asks why. Childermass realises that neither of them can read the book, but wants to keep Vinculus by his side so he can try. Spring returns to England, but Strange and Norrell do not. Eventually the Darkness disappears taking Hurtfew with it. Norrell and Strange’s houses also disappear. Lord Liverpool and his Ministers say publicly that they regret Strange and Norrell’s disappearance, but are privately relieved. They turn their attention to new magicians, who are just as quarrelsome as Strange and Norrell but do little magic. The plan to recreate the Cinque Dragownes is revived. The York magicians reconvene. Many people turn up, few of them are gentlemen. They divide into two camps, one supporting Norrell and one Strange. Two ragged men arrived, one looking a true vagabond but the other has an air of authority, and introduces himself as Childermass, saying the other man is Vinculus. Childermass tells the magicians that their agreement with Norrell is void and they are free to practice again. He doubts that Norrell and Strange will be seen in England again, but tells them he has brought them Uskglass’s book, asking Vinculus to stand up. In Padua the Greysteels try to make Mrs Strange comfortable. She likes Flora’s company best. Flora tells her what Strange told her about Arabella’s cheerfulness and speaking with wit and genius. Flora says that when he returns he will restore her. Arabella doubts that they will meet again. She tells Flora that for both Strange and Norrell, magic comes before everything else. An Irish captain arrives in Genoa, and people say he admires Flora but he cannot look at her without blushing, and questions Arabella about her. Arabella still hears fairy music at night and struggles to sleep. Occasionally she needs to move and Dr Greysteel and Frank accompany her on night walks. On one of these Frank looks up and sees stars shifting. They see new constellations, and see an arch with statues of John Uskglass. A tall figure stands in it. Arabella continues alone and recognises Jonathan, who tells her she looks well. She asks him if he has found a way to dispel the darkness and he says no. He tells her that he and Norrell are not the first magicians to fall under an enchantment and asks her not to be miserable, saying that one day he will find the right spell to banish the darkness and return to her. She promises to wait for him. He tells her not to be a widow or wear black. He asks her to think of him with his nose in a book. They kiss and he disappears into the Darkness.
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Oh my goodness!!! First of all, I'm quite proud of myself for finishing this book. I'm not a fantasy reader generally, so maybe that's it, but I found that there were lots of separate sidebars that did connect somewhat in the end but in many cases were not fleshed out completely. Somehow I was expecting a spectacle of magical battle between Strange and Norrell, but that was hardly the case; Instead Norrell seemed a bit intimidated and ended up helping strange, even after all he had done to torment him throughout the book! I also felt like the fates of Stephen, Lady Pole and Arabella could have been more comprehensive.

I was very impressed with the writing of the novel and the dry humor and cleverness and putting all of the plot together, particularly for a first novel. I was thinking that this book was actually one that might be better as a movie so I was pleased to see that it actually was a BBC TV series. I'd be interested to check that out to see if the plot flows more smoothly there than it does in the book.

Did everyone else feel that the ending was satisfying and tied everything up?

Well done Dianne! We made it to the end of this monumental book. I only read Fantasy occasionally too, but I liked the historical fiction angle of this book which was used to anchor the fairies and magic aspect so that worked for me.

I was also impressed with Clarke’s writing ability and the ingenious way she constructed this. I felt that everything was tied up in the end, but I do think that some of the angles ended up being less significant than I thought they would. For example, Stephen’s role sort of faded out because of the fate of the thistledown fairy chap.

I really liked the ending, it seems fitting to have Strange and Norrell finally forced to stay working together as magic meant more to them than anything. I liked the outcome of the Vinculus story and was a bit shocked by Lascelles.

Pamela wrote: "Well done Dianne! We made it to the end of this monumental book. I only read Fantasy occasionally too, but I liked the historical fiction angle of this book which was used to anchor the fairies and..."

That's a great point Pamela, they ended up having to 'play nice'! Completely agree with you about Vinculus, Lascelles and Stephen. Lascelles especially, I had not pegged him for the nefarious type!

I almost never read fantasy, but on the whole I rather enjoyed this book. The ending is clever, but in a book with so many characters and stories it us inevitable that not every loose end gets tied up. At times it seemed impossible to summarise without missing important details.

Hugh wrote: "I almost never read fantasy, but on the whole I rather enjoyed this book. The ending is clever, but in a book with so many characters and stories it us inevitable that not every loose end gets tied..."

You did an amazing job of summarizing Hugh, thank you so much!

I think the fairy gentleman with thistle down silver hair acted as a catalyst, otherwise the book might have gone on and on for another 1000 pages, I knew that Strange and Norrell were not really against each other.

I never thought fairies could be so malicious and gentlemen too.

All the real magicians left non magical world on their own, it seems serious magic is not needed.
Raven King, Stephen Black, Strange and Norrell.


The scene with Childermass, Vinculus and youngsters aspiring to be magicians proves that magic it related just for entertainment and not solving problems, even if they are all trained magic, they will go against each other like Strange and Norrell.

I liked the quest for a book and a king. It made the book page turner. I liked the humour when Fairy gentleman describes the ingredients of his various concoctions. I am glad that human intelligence is too limited to prepare them in practice.