For once, it looks like I’m on top of new releases as this book has just been nominated for a slew of awards but final results have yet to be announced. Of course this book was always going to be a high profile release given that this is by Susanna Clarke and this is only her second novel after the incredibly successful Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell. This is however a simpler, far less ambitious work than her first book which famously took over ten years to write and is short enough that some would question if it even qualifies as being a novel.

The entire book is presented as a journal maintained by the main character. In it, this person who accepts being named as Piranesi, recounts his daily routines as well as any unusual encounters that he has. We gather that he lives not in the familiar world that we know but in an immense, perhaps infinitely large, house composed of endless halls. There are innumerable statues of various shapes and sizes within the halls and little else. Piranesi is in regular contact with one other human who he calls the Other and though he believes that the House is all that there is, the reader soon realizes that the Other is able to freely move between the House and the real world. The Other warns Piranesi against the arrival of an interloper who he claims is malicious. However when he comes across this new person and the messages she leaves for him and delves deep into his own journals, he eventually realizes that he has lost many memories and it is the Other who does not have his best interests at heart.

This is the kind of book that tries to make the reader feel at least a little lost for a while, being set as it is a strange and seemingly nonsensical world. But it didn’t take me long at all to understand what is going on because the House that is the real subject of this book is basically the Mansus from the Cultist Simulator game that I’d just played. It also brings to mind the Black Lodge from the Twin Peaks television series. No doubts it draws from similar sources of inspiration and the draw here is that it presents things from the other side of the mirror. To Piranesi, transformed as he has been by the subtle magic of the House, it is his entire world. He both knows and loves the House intimately and feels that the House loves him in turn. The descriptions of the House are rich and detailed. Seeing it through Piranesi’s eyes, we appreciate how it is a thing of splendor and wonder. At the same time, the book isn’t skimpy at in explaining the practicalities how Piranesi manages to survive in such a place. The tides of the sea washes across the halls, bringing fish and other creatures. Birds fly through broken walls and windows and nest amidst the statues. He scavenges seaweed and debris left by the tides to make into basic tools and thanks the House for the bounty.

The plot involves Piranesi finding out about his forgotten past and how he came to be in the House. There are no real surprises here as the reader is meant to realize the truth of what is really going on way before Piranesi does, which helps accentuate the horror of his predicament. But it is very satisfying to read such a well-written account with all of the standard elements: sinister cult, charismatic leader, devoted followers, kidnapping of innocents, murder and so on. It takes a little while to piece things together as the entire story stretches over decades even if Piranesi’s own role in the events is actually rather short and limited. I do like that having lost his memories, he accepts that he is now a different person entirely and has difficulty seeing himself as a victim. Though it is eventually revealed that those in the outside world have not forgotten him and are actively trying to rescue him, he sees the House not as a prison at all but as a wondrous home that provides him with all that he needs and that he understands like no one else does.

This is probably too small a book in terms of scope and ambition to deserve a best novel win but it achieves exactly what it sets out to do. For that I love it and it is a real thrill to read this and notice all of the links to similarly-themed games and other fictional works from a point of view that is rarely explored. Some reviewers have also noted the apt timing of how most readers must have read it while under lockdown during the pandemic, thus mirroring the isolation of the main character though this must have been completely unintentional on Clarke’s part. All in all, an excellent read that is so short that it can be easily recommended to practically everybody.