Piranesi
core novel 2020 Piranesi
Record
| First published | 2020 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.20 (577,027 ratings, collected 2026-09-14) |
| Page count | 245 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9781635575637 |
Synopsis
Piranesi is a stand-alone novel narrated by its title character, who lives a solitary existence inside a vast, labyrinthine structure he calls the House, an endless sequence of halls and vestibules whose upper reaches hold drifting clouds and whose lower levels hold a tidal ocean whose patterns he records with scientific care in his journals. Piranesi considers himself a kind of scientist and believes the House constitutes the whole world; he has identified only fifteen other people ever to have existed within it, most of them long dead and reduced to skeletal remains he tends respectfully. Twice a week he meets with the only other living person he knows, a man he calls the Other, who is searching for a hidden Great and Secret Knowledge somewhere in the House and who supplies Piranesi with occasional items, such as shoes and vitamins, that hint at a world beyond its walls.
Where it sits
- Universe: Piranesi
- Series: not part of a registered series (standalone work within its universe)
- Author: Susanna Clarke
Awards (verified)
- The Kitschies (Red Tentacle (Novel)), 2020: won
- Women's Prize for Fiction, 2021: won
- Mythopoeic Award (Adult Literature), 2022: finalist
- BSFA Award (Best Novel), 2020: nominated; Shortlisted; did not win.
- Nebula Award (Best Novel), 2020: nominated; Did not win (winner: Network Effect, Martha Wells).
- Costa Book Awards (Novel Award), 2020: nominated; Shortlisted; did not win the category.
- World Fantasy Award (Best Novel), 2021: nominated; Did not win (winner: Trouble the Saints, Alaya Dawn Johnson). Wikipedia's accolades table incorrectly lists this as a win; corrected here against the award body's own results page.
- Hugo Award (Best Novel), 2021: nominated; Did not win (winner: Network Effect, Martha Wells).
- British Book Awards (Audiobook of the Year), 2021: nominated; For the audiobook edition (narrated by Chiwetel Ejiofor), not the novel's own Fiction Book of the Year category; shortlisted, did not win.
- Dublin Literary Award, 2022: nominated; Longlist-level nomination; the award's own listing does not confirm a shortlist advance.
Notes
- Standalone. Confirmed unrelated to Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: different setting, no crossover characters, no shared magic system, no publisher framing as connected. No sequels, prequels, or companion narrative material exist; the 2022 BBC Radio 4 adaptation and the announced film adaptation are adaptations of this single text, not separate canon entries.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Piranesi (novel)
- Women's Prize for Fiction, 2021 winner announcement
- World Fantasy Awards, 2021 results
- The Kitschies, 2020 Awards
- File 770, 2020 BSFA Awards Shortlist
- Nebula Awards (SFWA), Best Novel
- The Hugo Awards, 2021
- Locus, 2020 Costa Book Awards Shortlists
- Locus, 2022 Mythopoeic Awards Finalists
- Dublin Literary Award, Piranesi
- Publishing Perspectives, 2021 British Book Award shortlists
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