The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories

Having gobbled up Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell I decided to read Ms. Clarke's other work that takes place in a similar world.  The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories is a collection of short stories that are all written in the same style as her previous book.  Some of them it is unclear if they take place in the same world while others directly involve some of the characters from Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

Like many short collections the quality is somewhat variable.  I most enjoyed the first and last stories, the ones in between I thought fell a little short.  Throughout the book there were glimmers of the stuff that made the other book so good, but I think that part of made that so good was the length of the book really let her flesh out the characters, the world, and the plot and her short stories really cannot do that in the same way.

If you liked Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, this book will probably interest you.  However, I would not really recommend reading it first.  While the size of the other book is a little daunting, it is a much more interesting journey than this one.

Overall, I would give this book an 81%.