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RSVP now for our live Q&A with Susanna Clarke

The Vox Book Club joins the author of Piranesi at the end of September for a live Zoom chat.

Susanna Clarke, author of Piranesi and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.
Susanna Clarke, author of Piranesi and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.
Susanna Clarke, author of Piranesi and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.
Courtesy of Sarah Lee
Constance Grady
Constance Grady is a senior correspondent on the Culture team for Vox, where since 2016 she has covered books, publishing, gender, celebrity analysis, and theater.

The Vox Book Club is linking to Bookshop.org to support local and independent booksellers.

This September, the Vox Book Club is reading one of the best and weirdest books of the past few years: Piranesi, by Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell author Susanna Clarke. Then, at the end of the month, we’ll be meeting with Clarke herself live on Zoom — and you can join us.

Piranesi is a sort of Narnia-by-way-of-Borges story, a “Paradise Lost” in a vast, flooded marble hall. It tells the story of a man called Piranesi, who wanders through the hall in a state of radiant and terrible innocence. As far as he knows, it is all there is of the world, and he’s one of the only living people in it. The result is astonishing to read, especially in this time of quasi-quarantine: a portrait of the trauma of being alone in the world, and a way of moving through and beyond that trauma into something else.

Our discussion with Clarke is at 12 pm Eastern on Monday, September 27. We’ll chat for about 45 minutes, and audience questions are encouraged. You can RSVP right here.

In the meantime, we’ll meet you back on the site September 17 with our Piranesi discussion post, and you can subscribe to the Vox Book Club newsletter to make sure you don’t miss anything.

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