PIRANESI by Susanna Clarke

Piranesi is a sweet and innocent young man who inhabits a world of fifteen people, thirteen of whom are dead.  The only other living person he has ever seen is an older man whom he calls simply The Other and with whom he meets for an hour twice a week.  During his waking hours, Piranesi wanders the many—perhaps infinite—vestibules and staircases of the huge structure that constitute his entire world, which The Other calls the Labyrinth.  Piranesi communes with birds, does not appear to have any concept of loneliness, and survives by burning dried seaweed and eating fish that float in with the massive tides that periodically, and quite violently, flood the lower floors.  The Other, however, obviously has other resources for food and clothing not available to Piranesi, who is so naïve that he doesn’t even question the source of The Other’s bounty.  When another living human appears in the Labyrinth, Piranesi begins to reevaluate everything that he believes to be true.  This disruption is particularly striking because the author has done such a remarkable job of creating a calm and serene atmosphere up to this point; Piranesi’s contentment feels perfectly natural.  When cracks begin to form in his perception of reality, the novel really picks up speed.  I don’t read many fantasy novels and even fewer that I actually like.  This is a notable exception.