I was excited by the prospect of meeting Clarke, and when I did finally meet her it was in the company of Greenland, who had, shortly after their first encounter, persuaded her to entertain his suit (an odd expression, now I come to write it down. He called her and asked to buy her story for an anthology he was editing. I loved everything about it: the plot, the magic, the glorious way she put words together, and was particularly delighted by the information in the cover letter that she was writing a novel set in the world of the tale, and that it would be called Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell – so delighted that I sent the story to an editor of my acquaintance. Gamely, though, she sent me the rest of the story. This came as some surprise to Susanna Clarke, who had no idea that Colin had sent me an extract from “The Ladies of Grace Adieu”. I read it, and wrote back, and demanded more.
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