OP here - Aaaaaahhh this is absolutely perfect, beautiful Susanna Clarke worldbuilding, down to the footnotes. I'm absolutely thrilled by this and can't wait to see where it's going.
You have so many delightful sentences here it's hard to pick out just a few:
Strange, who had by this time come to an appreciation of certain commonalities among fairy anecdotes, managed not to betray any particular alarm at this unusual tale.
(who had been staring at the lady’s bracelet of odd, grubby little white beads, some of them hairy)
Strange was relieved to find that Mr Norrell at least had the sense not to attempt to debate the issue of whether or not Stokesy had been in need of Col Tom Blue’s help in lifting his curse.
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell on more than one occasion encountered members of the fairy race who mistakenly referred to Dr Pale as “the magician Palemarten,” and banners depicting an albino weasel meant to represent him are, in some parts of Faerie, nearly as numerous as John Uskglass’s raven volant.
Eugenia Yestersorrow is a completely convincing fairy, down to her wonderful name; your Strange and Norrell are of course spot-on so far. I can't wait to see the results of their new curse! Again, this is just fabulous.
Re: [Fill] Darkness, Misery, and Solitude {Strange/Norrell}, Part 1/?
You have so many delightful sentences here it's hard to pick out just a few:
Strange, who had by this time come to an appreciation of certain commonalities among fairy anecdotes, managed not to betray any particular alarm at this unusual tale.
(who had been staring at the lady’s bracelet of odd, grubby little white beads, some of them hairy)
Strange was relieved to find that Mr Norrell at least had the sense not to attempt to debate the issue of whether or not Stokesy had been in need of Col Tom Blue’s help in lifting his curse.
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell on more than one occasion encountered members of the fairy race who mistakenly referred to Dr Pale as “the magician Palemarten,” and banners depicting an albino weasel meant to represent him are, in some parts of Faerie, nearly as numerous as John Uskglass’s raven volant.
Eugenia Yestersorrow is a completely convincing fairy, down to her wonderful name; your Strange and Norrell are of course spot-on so far. I can't wait to see the results of their new curse! Again, this is just fabulous.