Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

It is the early nineteenth century in merry old London. Magic has not seriously been practiced for over two hundred years in England. There are only street magicians with dirty yellow curtains who steal childrens pennies by performing sleights of hand. The Raven King is romantacised and remembered, but only as a shady figure from a shadier past. Enter Mr. Norrell. A slight, modest gentleman who has quietly amassed the largest library of Magic in recent memory and has studied his tomes eight hours a day for the past five years. Mr. Norrell is convinced that Magic, serious practical magic, and not the theoretical kind studied by such groups as the York Society of Magicians, must make a comeback in modern England. For what reason? For one, to help the military in it's efforts against Napolean. But wait, there is another magician waiting in the wings. One named Mr. Jonathan Strange...