#129 in Fantasy
Piranesi
- 272
- Pages
- about 5 h
- Reading time
- NYT bestseller · 1 week on the list, peaked at #9
- Women's Prize for Fiction
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Editor’s note Susanna Clarke’s first novel in sixteen years after Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, written while chronic illness kept her largely at home, an experience she has linked to the book. The name nods to Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s etchings of imaginary prisons. It is short and best started knowing almost nothing, since the narrator’s journal entries reveal the world piece by piece. It won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2021.
About the book
Piranesi is a speculative fiction novel by English author Susanna Clarke, published by Bloomsbury Publishing in 2020. It is Clarke's second novel, following her debut Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004), published sixteen years earlier. The novel is written as a journal from within a seemingly infinite, world-encompassing megastructure called the House. Piranesi won the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.4 across 3,052 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 95% of the weight and the score stays at 8.4 — the Fantasy average of 8.0 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.6 | 66 | 2% |
| Hardcover | 8.4 | 3K | 98% |
Reader voices
The most-liked reviews on Hardcover (credited to their authors).
“Piranesi is unlike any other book I've read. I'm not sure if I would exactly put this under the Fantasy genre; if anything, it's a lot more subtle and perhaps more in between Fantasy and Magical Realism. It has incredible world building, such a unique…”
“Piranesi is a beautifully written novel with a premise as mysterious as it is captivating. While often categorized as fantasy, it feels more like speculative fiction, or perhaps “fantasy light”, with a literary depth and layered themes that surprised me. The story unfolds in layers…”
Frequently asked
How long is Piranesi?
It has 272 pages — shorter than 95% of the ranked books in Fantasy.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Fantasy — and a score of 8.4, the closest to this book.
