Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Fancy something completely different? Both Mrs Vine and Mrs Truran recommended Susanna Clarke's Piranesi to me (and as we often share the same taste in books, I trusted their recommendation implicitly). I was not disappointed. If you wish to escape the repetitiveness of lockdown and lose yourself in a mysterious, alternative reality then look no further.

Piranesi lives in a world of elaborate halls, statues and staircases. The outdoors, lives indoors and so he has to accommodate the whims of the birds, tides and weather. The halls run north, south, east and west in an elaborate and seemingly endless labyrinth.

Piranesi's contented and almost solitary lifestyle is disrupted when, after a series of meetings and subsequent warnings from 'The Other', he realises that he is being hunted. Through a series of journal entries we piece together an intriguing past life for both Piranesi and The Other; one which is about to catch up with them both.