Why did I love this book?
Piranesi spoke deeply to me of the miraculous in the everyday. Clarke conjures a world so complete that, strange and sorrowful, severe and lonely as it is, you feel Piranesi’s attachment—and later his grief, when he learns the truth. For we’ve seen this world through his eyes: an infinite House, invaded by the sea, peopled by none other and visited by only one other—but full of wonders. Even as he suffers, Piranesi writes: The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite, and his diary records its beauties daily. “I am the Beloved Child of the House,” he says; and believing this, in his innocence and will to survive, he transforms both the simplest and harshest moments of the House into a bright, magical realm.
16 authors picked Piranesi as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
Winner of the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction
A SUNDAY TIMES & NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
The spectacular new novel from the bestselling author of JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL, 'one of our greatest living authors' NEW YORK MAGAZINE
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Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has.
In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend,…