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Nonesuch
It's the summer of 1939. London is on the brink of catastrophic war. Iris Hawkins, an ambitious young woman in the stuffy world of City finance, has a chance encounter with Geoff, a technical whizz at the BBC's nascent television unit.
What was supposed to be one night of abandon draws her instead into an adventure of otherworldly pursuit - into a reality where time bends, spirits can be summoned, and history hangs by a thread. Soon there are Nazi planes overhead. But Iris has more to contend with than the terrors of the Blitz. Over the rooftops of burning London, in the twisted passages between past and present, a fascist fanatic is travelling with a gun in her hand.
And only Iris can stop her from altering the course of history forever.
What was supposed to be one night of abandon draws her instead into an adventure of otherworldly pursuit - into a reality where time bends, spirits can be summoned, and history hangs by a thread. Soon there are Nazi planes overhead. But Iris has more to contend with than the terrors of the Blitz. Over the rooftops of burning London, in the twisted passages between past and present, a fascist fanatic is travelling with a gun in her hand.
And only Iris can stop her from altering the course of history forever.
496 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 26, 2026
About the author
Francis Spufford
20 books877 followersOfficially, I was a writer of non-fiction for the first half of my career, and I certainly enjoyed scraping up against the stubborn, resistant, endlessly interesting surface of the real world. I like awkwardness, things that don't fit, things that put up a struggle against being described. But when I was excited by what I was writing about, what I wanted to do with my excitement was always to tell a story. So every one of my non-fiction books borrowed techniques from the novel, and contained sections where I came close to behaving like a novelist. The chapter retelling the story of Captain Scott's last Antarctic expedition at the end of "I May Be Some Time", for example, or the thirty-page version of the gospel story in "Unapologetic". It wasn't a total surprise that in 2010 I published a book, "Red Plenty", which was a cross between fiction and documentary, or that afterwards I completed my crabwise crawl towards the novel with the honest-to-goodness entirely-made-up "Golden Hill". This was a historical novel about eighteenth century New York written like, well, an actual eighteenth century novel: hyperactive, stuffed with incident, and not very bothered about genre or good taste. It was elaborate, though. It was about exceptional events, and huge amounts of money, and good-looking people talking extravagantly in a special place. Nothing wrong with any of that: I'm an Aaron Sorkin fan and a Joss Whedon fan, keen on dialogue that whooshes around like a firework display. But those were the ingredients of romance, and there were other interesting things to tell stories about, so my next novel "Light Perpetual" in 2021 was deliberately plainer, about the lives that five London children might have had if they hadn't been killed in 1944 by a German rocket. Ordinary lives, in theory; except that there are no ordinary lives, if you look closely enough. It was longlisted for the Booker Prize. Then in 2023 I returned to strong forms of story, and to plotting more like "Golden Hill", with a noir crime novel called "Cahokia Jazz", set in the 1922 of a different timeline, where a metropolis full of Native Americans stood on the banks of the Mississippi. I was aiming for something like a classic black and white movie, except one you never saw, because it came from another history than our own. It won the Sidewise Award for alternate history. And now (2025/6) I've written a historical fantasy, "Nonesuch", set during the London Blitz, where as well as German bombs the protagonist Iris needs to deal with time-travelling fascists, and the remnants of Renaissance magic, preserved in the statues of the burning city. As writers of fantasy, I like C S Lewis, Ursula Le Guin, John Crowley, Tamsyn Muir, Guy Gavriel Kay, Katherine Addison. If you like them, you may like this.
Biography: I was born in 1964, the child of two historians. I'm married to the Dean of an Anglican cathedral in eastern England, I have two daughters, and I teach writing at Goldsmiths College, London.
Biography: I was born in 1964, the child of two historians. I'm married to the Dean of an Anglican cathedral in eastern England, I have two daughters, and I teach writing at Goldsmiths College, London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 205 reviews
January 31, 2026
On my blog.
Galley provided by publisher
It has been 96 days between my finishing Nonesuch and coming to review it. Ninety-six days in which it has become no clearer just how I am to write a review that can do this book justice. But, let me try.
Nonesuch was, by far and away, the best book I read in 2025. Admittedly, last year was uncommonly sparse in 5 star reads for me, but even so Nonesuch stood out. This was not a surprise: ever since I read Golden Hill a few years back, Francis Spufford has been on my list of favourite authors. I knew, from the very first page, that it would be incredible.
When I first picked up a Spufford novel, what immediately stuck out for me was the prose. A lot of prose feels like it’s striving for invisibility these days, but Spufford’s feels like each individual word is carefully selected, though in such a way that it neither feels too purple or overwrought. Instead, each little bit of description gives you a thrill, being distinctive and yet incredibly apt, observations which are memorable and also immersive.
Because Spufford’s prose is very good at transporting you to, in this case, 1940s London during the Blitz. Very rarely have I read an author who is quite so skilled at conjuring setting like Spufford can. There are certain scenes of this book that I can still viscerally recall even months later (and here I must confess to (usually!) a very poor memory for books, particularly when I’ve read several more in the meantime), from the creeping unease that follows Iris early on, to the gutpunch of an ending: I would go so far as to call this book unforgettable.
That’s also down to the central characters of this one. Iris and Geoff are both individually compelling, and even more so together. I’m not sure how much I want to say about this one, because I think this is a book that the less you know about it going in, the better, but I think it’s further proof to me that the most capital-r Romantic and compelling romances are in books which are not primarily romance novels. I have been thinking about Iris and Geoff on and off for ninety-six days since finishing this one. I have pointedly not been thinking about how long I have to wait for a resolution to their story.
All of which is, in a very un-justice-doing way, to say that if there is any 2026 release you pick up this year, it should be Nonesuch. If there’s any 2026 release you pick up in any other year, it should be Nonesuch. If you pick up only one other book in your life ever again, it should be Nonesuch. Just. Read Nonesuch.
Galley provided by publisher
It has been 96 days between my finishing Nonesuch and coming to review it. Ninety-six days in which it has become no clearer just how I am to write a review that can do this book justice. But, let me try.
Nonesuch was, by far and away, the best book I read in 2025. Admittedly, last year was uncommonly sparse in 5 star reads for me, but even so Nonesuch stood out. This was not a surprise: ever since I read Golden Hill a few years back, Francis Spufford has been on my list of favourite authors. I knew, from the very first page, that it would be incredible.
When I first picked up a Spufford novel, what immediately stuck out for me was the prose. A lot of prose feels like it’s striving for invisibility these days, but Spufford’s feels like each individual word is carefully selected, though in such a way that it neither feels too purple or overwrought. Instead, each little bit of description gives you a thrill, being distinctive and yet incredibly apt, observations which are memorable and also immersive.
Because Spufford’s prose is very good at transporting you to, in this case, 1940s London during the Blitz. Very rarely have I read an author who is quite so skilled at conjuring setting like Spufford can. There are certain scenes of this book that I can still viscerally recall even months later (and here I must confess to (usually!) a very poor memory for books, particularly when I’ve read several more in the meantime), from the creeping unease that follows Iris early on, to the gutpunch of an ending: I would go so far as to call this book unforgettable.
That’s also down to the central characters of this one. Iris and Geoff are both individually compelling, and even more so together. I’m not sure how much I want to say about this one, because I think this is a book that the less you know about it going in, the better, but I think it’s further proof to me that the most capital-r Romantic and compelling romances are in books which are not primarily romance novels. I have been thinking about Iris and Geoff on and off for ninety-six days since finishing this one. I have pointedly not been thinking about how long I have to wait for a resolution to their story.
All of which is, in a very un-justice-doing way, to say that if there is any 2026 release you pick up this year, it should be Nonesuch. If there’s any 2026 release you pick up in any other year, it should be Nonesuch. If you pick up only one other book in your life ever again, it should be Nonesuch. Just. Read Nonesuch.
October 27, 2025
spectacular. i would like 50 more immediately. i know this is the randomest comparison of all time but: made me feel how i felt when i first finished ninth house
March 9, 2026
This is a remarkable book. Set in London from the beginning of the Second World War and into the blitz, it could work well as a straight novel detailing a young woman's attempts to find a place for herself in the chauvinist world of finance against the backdrop of an experience that left a mostly female staff exhausted from lack of sleep and fear. Yet, that's just the backdrop for an effective urban fantasy.
It seems an ancient order had managed in the seventeenth century to find a way to change history from a location outside of normal time and space, known as Nonesuch. The order had become a shadow of its former self - except a young upper class Nazi, Lall, is determined to recreate the bridge to Nonesuch for her own nefarious ends.
Set against Lall is central character Iris - the young woman attempting to make her way in the world of finance. To be honest, initially Iris is extremely self-centred, not caring much about anyone else. But she discovers her humanity thanks to meeting Geoff, an engineer with the new television service, and his eccentric father. She also is intensely analytic, seeming to think through in extraordinary detail activities that most would barely bother to think about. All in all, a notable character, and far more rounded than her slightly two-dimensional petite blonde Nazi arch-enemy.
It's a beautiful read, both for its vivid portrayal of life in wartime London and in the cleverly developed fantasy element. I particularly loved Francis Spufford's irritable quantum angels. My only criticism is that the writing feels over-descriptive - it could have been tightened up a bit, which would have helped what is a slightly overlong volume. Admittedly we get a flash forward opener to introduce the fantasy element, but it takes an awful long time before we get into gear on the main theme.
However, I would forgive this book a lot (including the ending, with which I wasn't entirely happy), both for its atmospheric power and the wonderfully visualised fantasy. The blurb describes it as 'spellbinding', and it is, both metaphorically and literally. Recommended.
It seems an ancient order had managed in the seventeenth century to find a way to change history from a location outside of normal time and space, known as Nonesuch. The order had become a shadow of its former self - except a young upper class Nazi, Lall, is determined to recreate the bridge to Nonesuch for her own nefarious ends.
Set against Lall is central character Iris - the young woman attempting to make her way in the world of finance. To be honest, initially Iris is extremely self-centred, not caring much about anyone else. But she discovers her humanity thanks to meeting Geoff, an engineer with the new television service, and his eccentric father. She also is intensely analytic, seeming to think through in extraordinary detail activities that most would barely bother to think about. All in all, a notable character, and far more rounded than her slightly two-dimensional petite blonde Nazi arch-enemy.
It's a beautiful read, both for its vivid portrayal of life in wartime London and in the cleverly developed fantasy element. I particularly loved Francis Spufford's irritable quantum angels. My only criticism is that the writing feels over-descriptive - it could have been tightened up a bit, which would have helped what is a slightly overlong volume. Admittedly we get a flash forward opener to introduce the fantasy element, but it takes an awful long time before we get into gear on the main theme.
However, I would forgive this book a lot (including the ending, with which I wasn't entirely happy), both for its atmospheric power and the wonderfully visualised fantasy. The blurb describes it as 'spellbinding', and it is, both metaphorically and literally. Recommended.
February 28, 2026
I am clearly an outlier here, judging by the rapturous reviews. I was also an outlier on Light Perpetual, so perhaps Francis Spufford simply isn’t an author for me.
Nonesuch is set during the Blitz in south London and follows a small group of characters whose lives intersect under bombardment — ordinary people trying to carry on amid rubble, fear and rationing. Into this very grounded, vividly rendered wartime setting Spufford introduces angels and demons, engaged in a metaphysical struggle that overlays the human one. The novel moves between the practical business of survival — wardens, shelters, damaged houses — and the unseen supernatural conflict shaping events.
The description of the Blitz is superb. The sense of place, the smoke and dust, the brittle stoicism, the strange normality of catastrophe — all of that feels carefully observed and convincing. Spufford can paint a street, a sky, a shattered building with real authority. Those sections are immersive and often deeply affecting.
Where it lost me was with the angels and demons. I understand what he was doing — raising the moral and spiritual stakes, suggesting that history is more than random destruction — but I found those passages overlong and heavy. The metaphysical debates felt laboured, and the novel began to sprawl. Just as I was hoping for resolution, we’re left on something of a cliff hanger, which, after the length and density of what precedes it, felt more wearying than intriguing.
Given how much others have loved it, I suspect this is very much a case of an issue in the part of the reader….which is so frustrating.
Nonesuch is set during the Blitz in south London and follows a small group of characters whose lives intersect under bombardment — ordinary people trying to carry on amid rubble, fear and rationing. Into this very grounded, vividly rendered wartime setting Spufford introduces angels and demons, engaged in a metaphysical struggle that overlays the human one. The novel moves between the practical business of survival — wardens, shelters, damaged houses — and the unseen supernatural conflict shaping events.
The description of the Blitz is superb. The sense of place, the smoke and dust, the brittle stoicism, the strange normality of catastrophe — all of that feels carefully observed and convincing. Spufford can paint a street, a sky, a shattered building with real authority. Those sections are immersive and often deeply affecting.
Where it lost me was with the angels and demons. I understand what he was doing — raising the moral and spiritual stakes, suggesting that history is more than random destruction — but I found those passages overlong and heavy. The metaphysical debates felt laboured, and the novel began to sprawl. Just as I was hoping for resolution, we’re left on something of a cliff hanger, which, after the length and density of what precedes it, felt more wearying than intriguing.
Given how much others have loved it, I suspect this is very much a case of an issue in the part of the reader….which is so frustrating.
Read
February 28, 2026I’ve always known Spufford had an sff novelist’s heart – he’s been getting closer and closer to the genre with every novel he writes. With Nonesuch, he’s arrived. It’s his best yet, I think, an adventure through Blitz-raddled London and through time itself. Like all of my favourite secret-London novels, it relies on wonders: radio-wave angels imprisoned in the city’s statues, a sixteenth-century path to an enclave existing outside of space and time (“ye Pallace of Nonesuche”), a truly terrifying encounter with a construct that reminded me of the malevolent animated scarecrows in the Doctor Who two-parter “Human Nature”/"The Family of Blood”. The reason it’s so good, though, is the protagonist. Spufford has always been great at writing women, but here he really surpasses himself with Iris Hawkins, an ambitious secretary in a City firm. Iris wants to be rich, and she’s a social climber; her calibration of her vowels, from Watford to Chelsea, recurs regularly. She’s also got a fantastic financial mind and an endearing practicality. You know how we expect our heroines in books like this to be fascinated if they come across a wizardly cabal? Iris, refreshingly, truly couldn’t care less about the weirdos whose occult machinations have set all this in motion. Her main desires are to stay alive, to keep her lover Geoff alive, to stop a bitchy fascist from changing history so that England capitulates to the Nazis in 1939, and to find some way of balancing her fierce need for independence with the unexpected experience of falling in love. She’s a sexually active heroine without apology, but she doesn’t feel anachronistic. On the contrary, she feels unusual but not unlikely, someone who learns not to stand out but who is constantly working towards her goals, within her era’s limiting frameworks for class and sex. I suppose the combination of social-documentarian Blitz novel and metaphysical adventure story might strike other readers as incongruous, but I loved it. And while the immediate plot is resolved by the end of the novel, it ends on a literal “to be continued” that instantly creates another set of questions to be answered. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. If you’ve enjoyed Spufford’s previous work, don’t miss it. Huge thanks to Francis himself for the PDF proof; Nonesuch was published on 26 February.
December 23, 2025
Speculative fiction that’s mostly a recount of women during the Blitz. Love the writing style and the characterisations, frustrated by the inevitable denouement and reveal
March 23, 2026
London, 1939. The Blitz is coming. But Iris Hawkins has more to worry about than Nazi planes - she's stumbled into a nightmare of time travel, occult societies, and a fascist fanatic determined to alter history.
Iris is a financial secretary with a sharp head for numbers. Her unexpected relationship with Geoff, a television engineer, started as a one-night stand with someone not remotely her type - but it grew into something more as the world around them descended into chaos.
When they discover Geoff's father's occult secret society in his attic, the story requires a serious suspension of disbelief. The fantasy elements blend time travel with angels and demons - spirits trapped by the occult, warning about the war. The angels and demons were meant to mirror the chaos of war - the indiscriminate destruction, the moral stakes. I could see what Spufford was trying to do, but it didn't always land for me.
What did work: The Blitz setting was immersive. The contrast between people refusing to believe war would come and others fleeing to save themselves. The routine of taking shelter, waiting for the bombs - until they finally came. Spufford captured that tension brilliantly.
This is a lengthier book that blends historical fiction with fantasy in ambitious ways.
Audio experience: Lydia Wilson's narration sounded authentic to the 1939 timeline. She brought the era to life.
You'll love this if: You want historical fiction with fantasy elements, strong female protagonists in WWII London, and ambitious genre-blending stories.
Thanks to Scribner and Simon & Schuster Audio for the advance copies.
Iris is a financial secretary with a sharp head for numbers. Her unexpected relationship with Geoff, a television engineer, started as a one-night stand with someone not remotely her type - but it grew into something more as the world around them descended into chaos.
When they discover Geoff's father's occult secret society in his attic, the story requires a serious suspension of disbelief. The fantasy elements blend time travel with angels and demons - spirits trapped by the occult, warning about the war. The angels and demons were meant to mirror the chaos of war - the indiscriminate destruction, the moral stakes. I could see what Spufford was trying to do, but it didn't always land for me.
What did work: The Blitz setting was immersive. The contrast between people refusing to believe war would come and others fleeing to save themselves. The routine of taking shelter, waiting for the bombs - until they finally came. Spufford captured that tension brilliantly.
This is a lengthier book that blends historical fiction with fantasy in ambitious ways.
Audio experience: Lydia Wilson's narration sounded authentic to the 1939 timeline. She brought the era to life.
You'll love this if: You want historical fiction with fantasy elements, strong female protagonists in WWII London, and ambitious genre-blending stories.
Thanks to Scribner and Simon & Schuster Audio for the advance copies.
April 8, 2026
Francis Spufford is such a fascinating author. Very few writers excel in both fiction and non-fiction, and across so many genres of fiction as well. I absolutely loved Golden Hill and Cahokia Jazz, thus eagerly anticipated Nonesuch. In his latest novel Spufford tries two new things: urban fantasy and starting a series. Nonesuch is set in London during the initial years of the Second World War, with the addition of a crypto-fascist secret society of wizards that have access to dangerous magic. The most notable characteristics of this secret society are uselessness and irrelevance. Magic, however, proves not to be useless at all. The protagonist is a pragmatic and ambitious young woman named Iris, who works for a City investment firm. She gets unwillingly dragged into magical shenanigans after a tumultuous night out on the town. I liked Iris very much and found her a compelling narrator of both historical and fantastical events.
The pace of Nonesuch is quite dilatory and there is a greater focus on character development, London during the war, and (to my surprise) romance, than on magic. For much of the book, the fantastical happenings are a subplot. Spufford's depiction of the Blitz is brilliant, definitely my favourite aspect of Nonesuch. Constant exposure to danger, exhaustion, and resilience amongst Londoners are conveyed powerfully from Iris' point of view. She volunteers to be on fire-watch for magic-related reasons, but I found the close up view of air raids more interesting. Iris' job in investment banking was likewise much more compelling than I anticipated. Indeed, I think the novel would still stand up with all fantastical elements removed. They do add some fun, but the world-building around the magic remains largely vague due to the incompetence and malice of the wizard society (as well as sheer bad luck). I suspect more will be revealed in the sequel.
Overall I found the alternate history and plot of Cahokia Jazz so beguiling that I prefer it to Nonesuch. However there is also much to enjoy here, as Spufford is an original and thoroughly high quality writer. Iris is an excellent protagonist, the Blitz in London is conveyed with wonderful vividness, and what details are revealed of magic are playful and strange. I found the romance and plot wrapped around the magic a bit less involving, although they were all woven together very neatly. The book ends with a twist and cliffhanger; I enjoyed the former while finding the latter somewhat annoying. The inclusion of a cliffhanger tends to get on my nerves, though. If I've enjoyed the novel, there is no need to tease with To Be Continued. Nonesuch was certainly pleasing enough that I'll look out for the sequel anyway.
The pace of Nonesuch is quite dilatory and there is a greater focus on character development, London during the war, and (to my surprise) romance, than on magic. For much of the book, the fantastical happenings are a subplot. Spufford's depiction of the Blitz is brilliant, definitely my favourite aspect of Nonesuch. Constant exposure to danger, exhaustion, and resilience amongst Londoners are conveyed powerfully from Iris' point of view. She volunteers to be on fire-watch for magic-related reasons, but I found the close up view of air raids more interesting. Iris' job in investment banking was likewise much more compelling than I anticipated. Indeed, I think the novel would still stand up with all fantastical elements removed. They do add some fun, but the world-building around the magic remains largely vague due to the incompetence and malice of the wizard society (as well as sheer bad luck). I suspect more will be revealed in the sequel.
Overall I found the alternate history and plot of Cahokia Jazz so beguiling that I prefer it to Nonesuch. However there is also much to enjoy here, as Spufford is an original and thoroughly high quality writer. Iris is an excellent protagonist, the Blitz in London is conveyed with wonderful vividness, and what details are revealed of magic are playful and strange. I found the romance and plot wrapped around the magic a bit less involving, although they were all woven together very neatly. The book ends with a twist and cliffhanger; I enjoyed the former while finding the latter somewhat annoying. The inclusion of a cliffhanger tends to get on my nerves, though. If I've enjoyed the novel, there is no need to tease with To Be Continued. Nonesuch was certainly pleasing enough that I'll look out for the sequel anyway.
March 21, 2026
The book begins with a prologue, where Iris stays after work in her office in 1940 to cast a spell that enlivens a stone statue, and she asks it "Tell me where all past years are."
After that fantasy teaser, we jump back in time to ordinary life in the 1930s leading up to the war. Iris is a woman from a lower class of English society, has been working as a secretary in a stockbrokerage, and is sexually promiscuous. She likes men and flitting between them, never settling on one. Settling on one man is a scary prospect, given that she has aspirations in the world of finance that do not mesh with being a sedate housewife.
Iris is a great character, and we see her through an omniscient lens where we know what she's thinking. She's our viewpoint character, and she is in turmoil - she meets somebody she brushes off, but then grows closer to, and it scares her.
Oh, that fantasy stuff with stone statues coming to life? That finally happens about 2/3 of the way through the book, after we are introduced to practitioners of magic. (Honestly, if I read another book that involves the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn or Aleister Crowley, I'll scream.)
Iris gets crosswise with a group of British Fascists (yes, the Mosley crowd), but then an angel arrives. Literally. With a startling annunciation: Iris has to save the world's timeline by preventing the fascists from changing it to favor Nazi Germany. She needs to use the stone statues to accomplish this.
This is starting to sound too outlandish, but Spufford grounds his characters so well that you go along with it. I found the angel a bit too - quotidian? Even though he's usually a ball of light. He's very plain-spoken. Also kind of stuffy ("there are rules").
The statues, and the paths that Iris has to walk, I found intriguing. In the middle of the Blitz, Iris has to navigate a path among statues to foil the fascists. At one point she is up in the sky where the bombers are.
I haven't talked about the Blitz yet. Much of this book deals with the Blitz and its effect on London. Much of the bulk of the book is the historical fiction aspect about London during the Blitz and the gradual erosion of buildings from the landscape. Even without the fantasy element this is an engaging book about a critical time and place, with well-developed characters that you come to care about.
Since Iris works in a stockbrokerage, there's a lot about the effect on finance and the government's efforts to fund the war. (John Maynard Keynes has a cameo.) This is an unexpectedly fascinating part of the book.
Other reviewers have mentioned it, so I'll say it too: Although Iris achieves a major goal at the end, there will be a sequel; the book ends with "to be continued".
After that fantasy teaser, we jump back in time to ordinary life in the 1930s leading up to the war. Iris is a woman from a lower class of English society, has been working as a secretary in a stockbrokerage, and is sexually promiscuous. She likes men and flitting between them, never settling on one. Settling on one man is a scary prospect, given that she has aspirations in the world of finance that do not mesh with being a sedate housewife.
Iris is a great character, and we see her through an omniscient lens where we know what she's thinking. She's our viewpoint character, and she is in turmoil - she meets somebody she brushes off, but then grows closer to, and it scares her.
Oh, that fantasy stuff with stone statues coming to life? That finally happens about 2/3 of the way through the book, after we are introduced to practitioners of magic. (Honestly, if I read another book that involves the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn or Aleister Crowley, I'll scream.)
Iris gets crosswise with a group of British Fascists (yes, the Mosley crowd), but then an angel arrives. Literally. With a startling annunciation: Iris has to save the world's timeline by preventing the fascists from changing it to favor Nazi Germany. She needs to use the stone statues to accomplish this.
This is starting to sound too outlandish, but Spufford grounds his characters so well that you go along with it. I found the angel a bit too - quotidian? Even though he's usually a ball of light. He's very plain-spoken. Also kind of stuffy ("there are rules").
The statues, and the paths that Iris has to walk, I found intriguing. In the middle of the Blitz, Iris has to navigate a path among statues to foil the fascists. At one point she is up in the sky where the bombers are.
I haven't talked about the Blitz yet. Much of this book deals with the Blitz and its effect on London. Much of the bulk of the book is the historical fiction aspect about London during the Blitz and the gradual erosion of buildings from the landscape. Even without the fantasy element this is an engaging book about a critical time and place, with well-developed characters that you come to care about.
Since Iris works in a stockbrokerage, there's a lot about the effect on finance and the government's efforts to fund the war. (John Maynard Keynes has a cameo.) This is an unexpectedly fascinating part of the book.
Other reviewers have mentioned it, so I'll say it too: Although Iris achieves a major goal at the end, there will be a sequel; the book ends with "to be continued".
Read
October 12, 2025I ought to try to review this properly but all I really have to say is that I liked it a lot and during a pre-publication author event I went to Francis Spufford said that the fantasy fiction he was most inspired by when writing this was THE LOCKED TOMB BY TAMSYN MUIR.
March 20, 2026
Nonesuch – Francis Spufford
Initial Struggles
At first, this book was a struggle to get into. Spufford’s prose is unlike anything I’ve really experienced before. He leans heavily into metaphor, so much so that one metaphor often evolves into another, which then unfolds into yet another within the same train of thought.
Early on, this felt tedious. At times, it came across as over-described — a muddled jumble of words that didn’t always seem necessary. It slowed the pace and made it difficult to fully settle into the story.
However, by the end, it really came into its own. What initially felt excessive began to reveal its purpose, painting a vivid and almost surreal picture of the book’s fantastical elements. Once it clicked, the prose became a strength rather than a barrier, adding depth and atmosphere that a simpler style might not have achieved.
Characters
One of the book’s greatest strengths is its small cast of characters, all of whom feel carefully crafted and distinct. Iris, in particular, may be one of the most fully realised characters I’ve read in quite some time.
She’s deeply lovable, but also deeply flawed. Her issues feel real, uncomfortably so at times, and you can’t help but empathise with her, even when she makes decisions you don’t agree with. There were many moments where I disliked her actions or how she handled certain situations, but those choices always felt true to who she is.
Nothing about her behaviour feels forced for the sake of drama or tension. Instead, her actions are rooted in her upbringing, her mindset, and her emotional struggles. Because of this, the story doesn’t just happen around her; it grows out of her, making everything feel more grounded and authentic.
The supporting cast is just as well realised. Characters like Geoff, Mr Hale, and Lall all have distinct personalities that both clash and complement one another in interesting ways. Their dynamics feel natural, and every interaction comes across as authentic rather than forced.
Each character feels genuinely unique, bringing their own perspectives, beliefs, and flaws into the story. That authenticity is what makes the relationships so engaging to follow.
If anything, this fantastical, time-travelling World War story could almost have worked purely as a period drama focused on these characters — their work, their relationships, and their conflicting beliefs. In many ways, those grounded, human elements feel like the most integral part of the novel.
Story
Set in London during the early years of World War II and into The Blitz, the novel could easily stand on its own as a straight historical story. At its heart, it follows a young woman trying to carve out a place for herself in the world of finance, a space where women were not readily accepted, while navigating a life shaped by war, exhaustion, fear, and relentless pressure. Alongside this, there’s a more personal struggle: her search for self-acceptance, for love, and for the courage to be vulnerable.
Yet, this is only the foundation for something more unusual. The story layers in elements of fantasy, time travel and angels without ever overshadowing the very real tragedy and hardship of life during the Blitz. Instead, these fantastical elements enhance the atmosphere, amplifying the tension and unease of those long, restless nights rather than distracting from them.
I do have to mention that the story’s ending left me unsettled. It is deliberately open, clearly setting up a sequel, one that I’ll need to read before I can fully settle on a final verdict.
Because of that, I’m holding back from a full five stars for now. How Francis Spufford chooses to continue this story will have a big impact on how I ultimately view it.
At the moment, I’m sceptical but also genuinely hopeful.
Initial Struggles
At first, this book was a struggle to get into. Spufford’s prose is unlike anything I’ve really experienced before. He leans heavily into metaphor, so much so that one metaphor often evolves into another, which then unfolds into yet another within the same train of thought.
Early on, this felt tedious. At times, it came across as over-described — a muddled jumble of words that didn’t always seem necessary. It slowed the pace and made it difficult to fully settle into the story.
However, by the end, it really came into its own. What initially felt excessive began to reveal its purpose, painting a vivid and almost surreal picture of the book’s fantastical elements. Once it clicked, the prose became a strength rather than a barrier, adding depth and atmosphere that a simpler style might not have achieved.
Characters
One of the book’s greatest strengths is its small cast of characters, all of whom feel carefully crafted and distinct. Iris, in particular, may be one of the most fully realised characters I’ve read in quite some time.
She’s deeply lovable, but also deeply flawed. Her issues feel real, uncomfortably so at times, and you can’t help but empathise with her, even when she makes decisions you don’t agree with. There were many moments where I disliked her actions or how she handled certain situations, but those choices always felt true to who she is.
Nothing about her behaviour feels forced for the sake of drama or tension. Instead, her actions are rooted in her upbringing, her mindset, and her emotional struggles. Because of this, the story doesn’t just happen around her; it grows out of her, making everything feel more grounded and authentic.
The supporting cast is just as well realised. Characters like Geoff, Mr Hale, and Lall all have distinct personalities that both clash and complement one another in interesting ways. Their dynamics feel natural, and every interaction comes across as authentic rather than forced.
Each character feels genuinely unique, bringing their own perspectives, beliefs, and flaws into the story. That authenticity is what makes the relationships so engaging to follow.
If anything, this fantastical, time-travelling World War story could almost have worked purely as a period drama focused on these characters — their work, their relationships, and their conflicting beliefs. In many ways, those grounded, human elements feel like the most integral part of the novel.
Story
Set in London during the early years of World War II and into The Blitz, the novel could easily stand on its own as a straight historical story. At its heart, it follows a young woman trying to carve out a place for herself in the world of finance, a space where women were not readily accepted, while navigating a life shaped by war, exhaustion, fear, and relentless pressure. Alongside this, there’s a more personal struggle: her search for self-acceptance, for love, and for the courage to be vulnerable.
Yet, this is only the foundation for something more unusual. The story layers in elements of fantasy, time travel and angels without ever overshadowing the very real tragedy and hardship of life during the Blitz. Instead, these fantastical elements enhance the atmosphere, amplifying the tension and unease of those long, restless nights rather than distracting from them.
I do have to mention that the story’s ending left me unsettled. It is deliberately open, clearly setting up a sequel, one that I’ll need to read before I can fully settle on a final verdict.
Because of that, I’m holding back from a full five stars for now. How Francis Spufford chooses to continue this story will have a big impact on how I ultimately view it.
At the moment, I’m sceptical but also genuinely hopeful.
April 11, 2026
London during the Blitz. A young woman gets involved in a plot to go back in time to kill Churchill before the war begins, thereby leading the UK to stay out of the war, maybe even enter into a pact with Nazi Germany. Not sci-fi -- more mystical, involving angels and secret manuscripts. I finished it because I wanted to find out how it ended but I can't say I liked it. Some of the writing was so dense, so tightly packed with one thing after another, that the plot lost all momentum. Guess it just wasn't for me.
My thanks to Simon & Schuster and Edelweis+ for providing a digital ARC in return for an honest review.
My thanks to Simon & Schuster and Edelweis+ for providing a digital ARC in return for an honest review.
March 12, 2026
This was a disappointment for me. I have read and enjoyed most of Spufford's previous books, starting with his wonderful nonfiction book "Backroom Boys.". "Red Plenty" and "Golden Hill" were historical novels that were supported by huge amounts of research, but which carried it lightly. "Cahokia Jazz" was an alternative history with a wonderfully well thought alternative America and an exciting plot.
This is a fantasy novel. It is set in London of 1939-40. As usual, Spufford does a brilliant job setting the scene. The physical City and the mood of the "phony war" followed by the real war of daily bombing of London is captured. He shows us the details of what people were eating and how they dressed and how they spoke.
The backbone of the novel is a love story. Iris is an ambitious secretary in a financial firm. Geoff is a young engineer. They have a one-night stand that slowly evolves into an engagement. She is difficult and suspicious of deep involvement. He is naïve and somewhat of a nerd. They spend much of the novel trying to work out their relationship.
The meat of the novel is a world of fantasy powers that threaten London. The Order is a mysterious cabal that is evil. We get haunted men on the streets, an evil blond Nazi beauty, stone statutes that come to life, spells that are cast by playing secret musical instruments, a mystical tunnel to the magical land known as the "Nonesuch", creatures that are swarming points of light, etc.
We get plenty of sentences like this, "Structure upon structure, structure within structure, an abyss of structure that made you feel that by looking into it you were gazing far down, from the top of some intolerably high precipice into untold depths, even though at the same time the cracked plaster of the wall and roof-beams were fainty visible behind it.". If you like that kind of stuff, you will like this book. I don't and I didn't.
The final kick in the pants was to get to the end of this 480-page novel and find the dreaded words, "to be continued". No mention of this on the book cover or at the beginning of the book. We should be warned out front.
This is a fantasy novel. It is set in London of 1939-40. As usual, Spufford does a brilliant job setting the scene. The physical City and the mood of the "phony war" followed by the real war of daily bombing of London is captured. He shows us the details of what people were eating and how they dressed and how they spoke.
The backbone of the novel is a love story. Iris is an ambitious secretary in a financial firm. Geoff is a young engineer. They have a one-night stand that slowly evolves into an engagement. She is difficult and suspicious of deep involvement. He is naïve and somewhat of a nerd. They spend much of the novel trying to work out their relationship.
The meat of the novel is a world of fantasy powers that threaten London. The Order is a mysterious cabal that is evil. We get haunted men on the streets, an evil blond Nazi beauty, stone statutes that come to life, spells that are cast by playing secret musical instruments, a mystical tunnel to the magical land known as the "Nonesuch", creatures that are swarming points of light, etc.
We get plenty of sentences like this, "Structure upon structure, structure within structure, an abyss of structure that made you feel that by looking into it you were gazing far down, from the top of some intolerably high precipice into untold depths, even though at the same time the cracked plaster of the wall and roof-beams were fainty visible behind it.". If you like that kind of stuff, you will like this book. I don't and I didn't.
The final kick in the pants was to get to the end of this 480-page novel and find the dreaded words, "to be continued". No mention of this on the book cover or at the beginning of the book. We should be warned out front.
March 8, 2026
One thing I really liked about this book was the way the story includes reflections from Iris with the benefit of hindsight. After certain events, there are moments where she refers to what she later learns and how that changes the way she sees what happened. I found that really engaging because it creates a bit of tension. You know something significant is coming even if you don’t know exactly what yet.
I also really liked Iris as a character. She’s ambitious, driven, and quite complex, which made her feel very real. It was refreshing to read about a female character who’s allowed to be flawed and determined rather than simply likeable.
The book felt much more like historical fiction with just a dash of fantasy. The fantasy elements take quite a while to appear, so it leans heavily on the historical side for most of the story.
The ending didn’t completely work for me. It felt very sudden and didn’t seem to add much to the overall plot. It came across a bit like a final twist for the sake of it rather than something that really added to the story.
Overall, I enjoyed it well enough and I’m glad I read it, but it’s not one I’d personally reread.
Thank you to NetGalley and Francis Spufford for the E-ARC.
I also really liked Iris as a character. She’s ambitious, driven, and quite complex, which made her feel very real. It was refreshing to read about a female character who’s allowed to be flawed and determined rather than simply likeable.
The book felt much more like historical fiction with just a dash of fantasy. The fantasy elements take quite a while to appear, so it leans heavily on the historical side for most of the story.
The ending didn’t completely work for me. It felt very sudden and didn’t seem to add much to the overall plot. It came across a bit like a final twist for the sake of it rather than something that really added to the story.
Overall, I enjoyed it well enough and I’m glad I read it, but it’s not one I’d personally reread.
Thank you to NetGalley and Francis Spufford for the E-ARC.
April 13, 2026
That was a massive wow. Definitely, until now, the best thing that I’ve read in 2026. Written in intricately beautiful, faboulous, taking-your-breath away English, though quite demanding for a non-native speaker such as myself. That is also why it took a while and why I slipped some easy reading in, to get some rest. After all, almost 500 pages of amazing British English, war and tech and City terminology, not to mention the angels.
And the plot. The way it builds, like really, I am amazed. In the first third of the book, you could not have guessed where it ends up. Loved the protagnists, both of them, especially Iris, of course. What a girl, going through any wall no matter how thick. The love story that builds and matures throughout the Blitz, was heartbreakingly sweet and so humane.
Depictions of war-time London being bombed night after night after night. Beautiful and loving descriptions of people, and places, and feelings, and time.
All in all - if I had it in me to be a writer, I would want to write like Spufford does. Alongside John Irving, most likely one of my biggest discoveries in fiction during the last 5-6 years.
And the plot. The way it builds, like really, I am amazed. In the first third of the book, you could not have guessed where it ends up. Loved the protagnists, both of them, especially Iris, of course. What a girl, going through any wall no matter how thick. The love story that builds and matures throughout the Blitz, was heartbreakingly sweet and so humane.
Depictions of war-time London being bombed night after night after night. Beautiful and loving descriptions of people, and places, and feelings, and time.
All in all - if I had it in me to be a writer, I would want to write like Spufford does. Alongside John Irving, most likely one of my biggest discoveries in fiction during the last 5-6 years.
April 4, 2026
There's no shortage of books set in London during the Blitz, but this one connected with me due to its convincing attention to detail, strong writing, and well-drawn characters. The fantastical elements of the story were a bit bonkers at time, but they added a different dimension that succeeded in lifting the book out of the ordinary. As a bonus, the book made me think more deeply about wartime economics and the fight against fascism, still relevant today. I suspect the limitations on women's career prospects were, sadly, an accurate rendition of the time. Overall, this was a very fun read with substance, and one that is surely ripe for being made into a film. The author finishes the story with "To be continued", and I look forward to reading what comes next.
March 24, 2026
You see "science fiction" and "time travel" on a book, that's what you should probably expect. There shouldn't be a VERY heavy focus on angels and demons making things more complicated. It's a well-written book, just not what I felt like I was signing up for.
Want to Read
March 18, 2026Rec. by: Previous work, and maybe Dan T.
March 14, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.
I do not understand why this book is so highly rated.
It claims to be "Narnia for adults." It is not.
It is not a time travel book.
It is not a romance.
What it is: A description of life during the Blitz, accompanied by some of the most overwrought, pretentious writing I've come across in a while.
The story doesn't even get started until 50% of the way through; the "magical" parts are barely a subplot.
The FMC is exactly how a middle-aged man would write a young woman. His constant references to her body, her "sluttiness," etc are tiring and distracting. The MMC has all the personality and depth of a cartoon. And the book is filled with side characters that have utterly nothing to do about the plot: Eleanor, all the office workers, etc.
This book took me a week to finish- I would read one of the (overlong) chapters and fall asleep. Its biggest crime is being insufferably boring. This book is about 250 pages too long- and every one of those unneeded pages is filled with what I'm certain the author believes to be "poetic" prose.
And yes, the book ends on a terrible cliffhanger. I will 100% not be reading the next book.
I do not understand why this book is so highly rated.
It claims to be "Narnia for adults." It is not.
It is not a time travel book.
It is not a romance.
What it is: A description of life during the Blitz, accompanied by some of the most overwrought, pretentious writing I've come across in a while.
The story doesn't even get started until 50% of the way through; the "magical" parts are barely a subplot.
The FMC is exactly how a middle-aged man would write a young woman. His constant references to her body, her "sluttiness," etc are tiring and distracting. The MMC has all the personality and depth of a cartoon. And the book is filled with side characters that have utterly nothing to do about the plot: Eleanor, all the office workers, etc.
This book took me a week to finish- I would read one of the (overlong) chapters and fall asleep. Its biggest crime is being insufferably boring. This book is about 250 pages too long- and every one of those unneeded pages is filled with what I'm certain the author believes to be "poetic" prose.
And yes, the book ends on a terrible cliffhanger. I will 100% not be reading the next book.
March 22, 2026
To me, this felt like as if Sally Rooney wrote a historical sci-fi. I also rejoiced at the fact that this was a story that challenged the reader. It was a slower read for that reason, because you really had to have your brain ON while reading. The historical aspect was definitely the dominant part of the story (which I liked), and the setting of WWII and the Blitz were so tangible you really felt like being transported back to that time period. For a good two thirds of the book, I wasn't entirely sure whether we needed the sci-fi twist at all, but damn, that ending was worth it. I also loved that the characters were flawed and complex people with personalities and traits that weren't tropey and therefore felt like real human beings. I'm curious to see what the "To be continued" at the ending leads to, because in my opinion this can be read as a standalone, but I'll definitely be picking up the sequel.
February 27, 2026
Read courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. It's out at the start of March.
Firstly: be aware that this is the first of a duology. Did I know this going in? No. Did I think it would have an amazing conclusion? Yes. Did it have a great conclusion? Yes. Did I then turn the page to discover "To be concluded"? What do you think.
So it's the eve of World War 2, as the novel opens. Iris works in London, for a stockbroker; what she really wants is to be the stockbroker, but that's not happening for a woman in England in 1939. She's also a self-identified 'bad girl': she has relationships with men that are largely transactional - not strictly in the sex-work sense, but in the sense that she's definitely looking to get something out of it. Mostly she's looking to move up in the world, away from her suburban roots (it is England in 1939).
Then she meets Geoff, and then a weird Watcher follows her home, and then World War 2 starts, and then the Blitz begins. It's a lot.
This is most definitely a fantasy novel. There are "angelic beings" - for want of a better term (they're definitely not angelic in the sense of perfectly good, because I'm pretty sure that would rule out being sarcastic); there's a shadowy occult society, and magic is real if hard to access, and eventually there is Nonesuch - a place where, if you can access it, you might change history.
And yet. The fantastical elements are a surprisingly small part of the story. An enormous amount of the book is actually about surviving in London in 1939 and 1940. Everyone surviving - the descriptions of bomb shelters, and the lack of supplies, and general atmosphere of fear are exquisitely drawn. And Iris surviving - how she has lived up til now (perfectly well, if sometimes precarious), how that changes when she meets Geoff (much more complicated), various real and important moral quandaries. It's not that the fantastical elements were extraneous - I was always itching to go back to them - but the mundane sections didn't bore or worry me, or make me impatient. They're necessary and they're amazing.
I have never read anything by Spufford, and I was actually quite surprised to discover he's a he. Iris is drawn so convincingly, and sympathetically, with determination and ambition and unwelcome vulnerability; she's so angry when she's vulnerable but never made to seem lesser to the reader when she is - I just assumed it was a woman writing her. So that was a shock, but takes nothing away from Iris. She's vital and alive, she makes bad decisions and sometimes she makes them right, she's brave and she has to make real decisions about morality, and living with her brain and ambition in 1939 must have truly sucked.
If I could hold my breath until the sequel arrives I would consider it, but that would be stupid. I'm so excited that I am really quite nervous to see where it goes.
Firstly: be aware that this is the first of a duology. Did I know this going in? No. Did I think it would have an amazing conclusion? Yes. Did it have a great conclusion? Yes. Did I then turn the page to discover "To be concluded"? What do you think.
So it's the eve of World War 2, as the novel opens. Iris works in London, for a stockbroker; what she really wants is to be the stockbroker, but that's not happening for a woman in England in 1939. She's also a self-identified 'bad girl': she has relationships with men that are largely transactional - not strictly in the sex-work sense, but in the sense that she's definitely looking to get something out of it. Mostly she's looking to move up in the world, away from her suburban roots (it is England in 1939).
Then she meets Geoff, and then a weird Watcher follows her home, and then World War 2 starts, and then the Blitz begins. It's a lot.
This is most definitely a fantasy novel. There are "angelic beings" - for want of a better term (they're definitely not angelic in the sense of perfectly good, because I'm pretty sure that would rule out being sarcastic); there's a shadowy occult society, and magic is real if hard to access, and eventually there is Nonesuch - a place where, if you can access it, you might change history.
And yet. The fantastical elements are a surprisingly small part of the story. An enormous amount of the book is actually about surviving in London in 1939 and 1940. Everyone surviving - the descriptions of bomb shelters, and the lack of supplies, and general atmosphere of fear are exquisitely drawn. And Iris surviving - how she has lived up til now (perfectly well, if sometimes precarious), how that changes when she meets Geoff (much more complicated), various real and important moral quandaries. It's not that the fantastical elements were extraneous - I was always itching to go back to them - but the mundane sections didn't bore or worry me, or make me impatient. They're necessary and they're amazing.
I have never read anything by Spufford, and I was actually quite surprised to discover he's a he. Iris is drawn so convincingly, and sympathetically, with determination and ambition and unwelcome vulnerability; she's so angry when she's vulnerable but never made to seem lesser to the reader when she is - I just assumed it was a woman writing her. So that was a shock, but takes nothing away from Iris. She's vital and alive, she makes bad decisions and sometimes she makes them right, she's brave and she has to make real decisions about morality, and living with her brain and ambition in 1939 must have truly sucked.
If I could hold my breath until the sequel arrives I would consider it, but that would be stupid. I'm so excited that I am really quite nervous to see where it goes.
April 7, 2026
There are novels you admire, novels you enjoy, and then there are novels that leave you—very specifically—face down on the floor, emotionally compromised, muttering about two fictional people like they’re real. Nonesuch by Francis Spufford is emphatically the third kind. It is a book that begins with flirtation and inconvenience and escalates, with astonishing confidence, into angels, time war, fascist metaphysics, and the end of history—all while somehow remaining a love story so intimate it feels almost indecent to read.
Let’s start with the shape of it.
Plot Breakdown: Blitz, Magic, and the Absolute Audacity of It All
The novel opens in London, summer 1939, on the brink of war. Iris Hawkins is a financial secretary—sharp, ambitious, and absolutely unwilling to accept the life she’s been handed. She wants money, power, movement. She wants to be someone. This is not a passive heroine drifting into destiny; she is already pushing at the walls of her world before the supernatural ever arrives.
Enter Geoff Hale: shy, brilliant, working in early television engineering—one of those quietly essential men whose understanding of signals and waves turns out to be cosmically important. Their first encounter is messy, impulsive, and not particularly romantic. It’s a one-night stand. It’s not supposed to matter.
Reader, it matters.
From there, the novel detonates. Iris’s brief entanglement pulls her into something vast and deeply strange: angels embedded in London’s architecture, occult networks, and a fascist conspiracy aiming to manipulate time itself. The central threat is not merely political but metaphysical—British fascists seeking to access a place called “Nonesuch,” where time can be altered, potentially ensuring a Nazi victory.
The war becomes doubled: the visible Blitz, with bombs falling nightly, and an invisible war fought across rooftops, through signals, and inside the fabric of reality itself. The London setting is crucial—not just backdrop but organism. The city transforms under bombardment, and the magical system is literally embedded in its statues, its architecture, its infrastructure.
Iris, improbably but convincingly, becomes central to stopping this plot. Not because she is chosen in some mythic sense, but because she is observant, analytical, and bold. She understands systems—financial, social, and eventually supernatural—and that skill becomes the key to navigating a reality where angels behave like data streams and magic resembles physics.
And through all of this: Geoff.
Characters: Iris and Geoff (I Am Not Calm About Them)
Let’s be clear: the emotional core of Nonesuch is not the time-traveling fascists, or even the angels. It is Iris and Geoff, and the way their relationship evolves from something casual and transactional into something terrifyingly real.
Iris Hawkins
Iris is one of the most divisive and compelling protagonists in recent fiction. She is ambitious to the point of abrasiveness, sexually confident, occasionally manipulative, and not especially interested in being liked. She wants wealth and independence; she is not trying to be morally exemplary.
And yet—this is crucial—she is brave. Not in a heroic, self-sacrificing cliché way, but in the sense that she is willing to risk transformation. When the relationship with Geoff deepens, she doesn’t retreat. She is frightened by intimacy, by vulnerability, by the possibility of being known—but she goes forward anyway.
She is also, in a very real sense, a systems thinker in a world that runs on systems. Whether she’s reading the stock market or decoding angelic mechanics, she engages with complexity head-on. That intellectual engagement becomes a form of heroism.
Geoff Hale
Geoff is, on paper, the opposite: gentle, awkward, brilliant, emotionally open in ways Iris is not. He begins almost as a side character—someone swept up in Iris’s wake—but gradually becomes indispensable.
His work with signals and early television is not just a character detail; it is thematically central. In a novel where reality itself is mediated through waves, transmissions, and unseen structures, Geoff is uniquely equipped to understand what’s happening.
But more importantly: Geoff feels. Deeply. Earnestly. Without irony.
And this is where the obsession comes in.
Iris + Geoff = Catastrophic Emotional Investment
Their relationship is not tidy. It begins casually, almost dismissively, and then—against Iris’s intentions—becomes something else. Something heavier. Something that demands recognition.
What makes it devastating is the asymmetry that slowly resolves: Iris starts out in control, emotionally distant, while Geoff is already halfway in love. Over time, that balance shifts. Iris realizes that what she has stumbled into is not just pleasure or companionship, but a connection that can change her.
And she hates that. And wants it anyway.
Their intimacy becomes a site of risk—emotional, existential. The novel explicitly frames love as dangerous: a kind of exposure as profound as the war outside.
You are not supposed to be this invested in two people while angels are arguing about quantum tunneling, and yet here we are.
Speculative Fiction and the Blitz: Why This Works So Well
The genius of Nonesuch is how it treats the fantastical not as escapism, but as an extension of reality. The Blitz is already surreal: bombs falling arbitrarily, death arriving without warning, the normal rules of life suspended.
So when angels appear—when time becomes mutable—the novel asks a simple question: is this really any stranger than what’s already happening?
The answer, implicitly, is no.
Magic in Nonesuch is not whimsical. It is structural. It operates through networks, patterns, and energy—mirroring both modern technology and the bureaucratic systems of war. Angels are described not as soft-winged beings but as shifting, data-like entities, sometimes incomprehensible, sometimes almost mechanical.
This creates a fascinating overlap between:
early television and signal theory
financial systems and predictive modeling
occult structures and time manipulation
Everything becomes legible through the same lens: systems interacting under pressure.
And in the middle of that? Iris, reading the pattern.
The Antagonists and the Threat
The villains—particularly the fascist conspirators and figures like Lady Lalage Cunningham—are less psychologically complex than Iris, but they function effectively as embodiments of a certain kind of will to power.
Their goal is chillingly simple: use magic to rewrite history, ensuring fascist victory.
But the novel suggests something deeper: that the urge to dominate, to control outcomes absolutely, is itself the root of both fascism and certain forms of magic. Power becomes not just a tool but a philosophy.
In contrast, Iris’s approach to power is pragmatic, curious, and—crucially—limited. She doesn’t seek to control everything. She seeks to understand enough to act.
The Ending: Ambiguity and Emotional Ruin
And then there’s the ending.
Without spoiling specifics: it resolves the immediate crisis—the attempt to alter time is thwarted—but refuses to neatly close the door on what has happened. There are implications of further instability, further possibility. The existence of “Nonesuch” itself suggests that reality remains permeable.
It is, in other words, an ending that gestures outward rather than inward.
Emotionally, it lands somewhere between triumph and suspension. The relationship between Iris and Geoff is not wrapped in a bow; it is left alive, ongoing, vulnerable. The future is open—not just historically, but personally.
Which is worse, frankly.
Because you don’t get closure. You get continuation.
And that is exactly why you end up on the floor.
Final Thoughts
Nonesuch is an audacious blend of genres: historical fiction, romance, speculative fantasy, political thriller. It should not cohere. And yet it does—because its center holds.
That center is Iris: difficult, brilliant, hungry. And Geoff: steady, perceptive, quietly transformative. Around them spins a world of angels, bombs, and impossible geometry, but the emotional gravity always pulls back to the question of what it means to connect with another person in a world that is literally falling apart.
It is a novel about systems—financial, magical, political—but also about the one system that refuses to be fully mapped: human attachment.
And if you are obsessed with Iris and Geoff?
Correct. That is the only reasonable response.
Let’s start with the shape of it.
Plot Breakdown: Blitz, Magic, and the Absolute Audacity of It All
The novel opens in London, summer 1939, on the brink of war. Iris Hawkins is a financial secretary—sharp, ambitious, and absolutely unwilling to accept the life she’s been handed. She wants money, power, movement. She wants to be someone. This is not a passive heroine drifting into destiny; she is already pushing at the walls of her world before the supernatural ever arrives.
Enter Geoff Hale: shy, brilliant, working in early television engineering—one of those quietly essential men whose understanding of signals and waves turns out to be cosmically important. Their first encounter is messy, impulsive, and not particularly romantic. It’s a one-night stand. It’s not supposed to matter.
Reader, it matters.
From there, the novel detonates. Iris’s brief entanglement pulls her into something vast and deeply strange: angels embedded in London’s architecture, occult networks, and a fascist conspiracy aiming to manipulate time itself. The central threat is not merely political but metaphysical—British fascists seeking to access a place called “Nonesuch,” where time can be altered, potentially ensuring a Nazi victory.
The war becomes doubled: the visible Blitz, with bombs falling nightly, and an invisible war fought across rooftops, through signals, and inside the fabric of reality itself. The London setting is crucial—not just backdrop but organism. The city transforms under bombardment, and the magical system is literally embedded in its statues, its architecture, its infrastructure.
Iris, improbably but convincingly, becomes central to stopping this plot. Not because she is chosen in some mythic sense, but because she is observant, analytical, and bold. She understands systems—financial, social, and eventually supernatural—and that skill becomes the key to navigating a reality where angels behave like data streams and magic resembles physics.
And through all of this: Geoff.
Characters: Iris and Geoff (I Am Not Calm About Them)
Let’s be clear: the emotional core of Nonesuch is not the time-traveling fascists, or even the angels. It is Iris and Geoff, and the way their relationship evolves from something casual and transactional into something terrifyingly real.
Iris Hawkins
Iris is one of the most divisive and compelling protagonists in recent fiction. She is ambitious to the point of abrasiveness, sexually confident, occasionally manipulative, and not especially interested in being liked. She wants wealth and independence; she is not trying to be morally exemplary.
And yet—this is crucial—she is brave. Not in a heroic, self-sacrificing cliché way, but in the sense that she is willing to risk transformation. When the relationship with Geoff deepens, she doesn’t retreat. She is frightened by intimacy, by vulnerability, by the possibility of being known—but she goes forward anyway.
She is also, in a very real sense, a systems thinker in a world that runs on systems. Whether she’s reading the stock market or decoding angelic mechanics, she engages with complexity head-on. That intellectual engagement becomes a form of heroism.
Geoff Hale
Geoff is, on paper, the opposite: gentle, awkward, brilliant, emotionally open in ways Iris is not. He begins almost as a side character—someone swept up in Iris’s wake—but gradually becomes indispensable.
His work with signals and early television is not just a character detail; it is thematically central. In a novel where reality itself is mediated through waves, transmissions, and unseen structures, Geoff is uniquely equipped to understand what’s happening.
But more importantly: Geoff feels. Deeply. Earnestly. Without irony.
And this is where the obsession comes in.
Iris + Geoff = Catastrophic Emotional Investment
Their relationship is not tidy. It begins casually, almost dismissively, and then—against Iris’s intentions—becomes something else. Something heavier. Something that demands recognition.
What makes it devastating is the asymmetry that slowly resolves: Iris starts out in control, emotionally distant, while Geoff is already halfway in love. Over time, that balance shifts. Iris realizes that what she has stumbled into is not just pleasure or companionship, but a connection that can change her.
And she hates that. And wants it anyway.
Their intimacy becomes a site of risk—emotional, existential. The novel explicitly frames love as dangerous: a kind of exposure as profound as the war outside.
You are not supposed to be this invested in two people while angels are arguing about quantum tunneling, and yet here we are.
Speculative Fiction and the Blitz: Why This Works So Well
The genius of Nonesuch is how it treats the fantastical not as escapism, but as an extension of reality. The Blitz is already surreal: bombs falling arbitrarily, death arriving without warning, the normal rules of life suspended.
So when angels appear—when time becomes mutable—the novel asks a simple question: is this really any stranger than what’s already happening?
The answer, implicitly, is no.
Magic in Nonesuch is not whimsical. It is structural. It operates through networks, patterns, and energy—mirroring both modern technology and the bureaucratic systems of war. Angels are described not as soft-winged beings but as shifting, data-like entities, sometimes incomprehensible, sometimes almost mechanical.
This creates a fascinating overlap between:
early television and signal theory
financial systems and predictive modeling
occult structures and time manipulation
Everything becomes legible through the same lens: systems interacting under pressure.
And in the middle of that? Iris, reading the pattern.
The Antagonists and the Threat
The villains—particularly the fascist conspirators and figures like Lady Lalage Cunningham—are less psychologically complex than Iris, but they function effectively as embodiments of a certain kind of will to power.
Their goal is chillingly simple: use magic to rewrite history, ensuring fascist victory.
But the novel suggests something deeper: that the urge to dominate, to control outcomes absolutely, is itself the root of both fascism and certain forms of magic. Power becomes not just a tool but a philosophy.
In contrast, Iris’s approach to power is pragmatic, curious, and—crucially—limited. She doesn’t seek to control everything. She seeks to understand enough to act.
The Ending: Ambiguity and Emotional Ruin
And then there’s the ending.
Without spoiling specifics: it resolves the immediate crisis—the attempt to alter time is thwarted—but refuses to neatly close the door on what has happened. There are implications of further instability, further possibility. The existence of “Nonesuch” itself suggests that reality remains permeable.
It is, in other words, an ending that gestures outward rather than inward.
Emotionally, it lands somewhere between triumph and suspension. The relationship between Iris and Geoff is not wrapped in a bow; it is left alive, ongoing, vulnerable. The future is open—not just historically, but personally.
Which is worse, frankly.
Because you don’t get closure. You get continuation.
And that is exactly why you end up on the floor.
Final Thoughts
Nonesuch is an audacious blend of genres: historical fiction, romance, speculative fantasy, political thriller. It should not cohere. And yet it does—because its center holds.
That center is Iris: difficult, brilliant, hungry. And Geoff: steady, perceptive, quietly transformative. Around them spins a world of angels, bombs, and impossible geometry, but the emotional gravity always pulls back to the question of what it means to connect with another person in a world that is literally falling apart.
It is a novel about systems—financial, magical, political—but also about the one system that refuses to be fully mapped: human attachment.
And if you are obsessed with Iris and Geoff?
Correct. That is the only reasonable response.
November 9, 2025
This is the Francis Spufford of Golden Hill: erudite, adventurous, strong characters and fascinating social history all expertly served up in gorgeous prose. I savoured this novel, rooted for our protagonist Iris, and ended up with several browser tabs open as I wanted to follow-up all the historical references. I had never really thought too deeply before about what it must've been like in London during the Blitz - the sleeplessness, the ruins, the raids, the relentlessness of it all alongside the demands of ordinary life - but this book really made me see it. Not least, how dark it would have been in the blackout, and how people would have needed to get used to that (and the workarounds they developed for dealing with it). I was struck by the demographic changes too, summarisd by the higher pitch of public crowds - because female voices now outnumbered male ones. The insights into wartime finance and the stockmarket also had me gripped, and I never thought that finance could grip me! A fantastic five-stars - I will think of this book each time I'm in the City.
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January 31, 2026You can find my review of the wildly imaginative Nonesuch in the February 2026 edition of Locus.
April 15, 2026
Normally I open my reviews with a brief intro to what the book is about, I will find it hard to do that here (for reasons I will elaborate on later) but here is my best go:
WW2-era London, Iris is working in a stockbrokers and leading a very normal life when she meets Geoff. Meeting Geoff brings her into a whole knew world. Suddenly the two are meeting weird spirit/ghost things. The fate of the whole world is in their hands when a fascist starts trying to use the spirits to travel to another world called Nonesuch to try bring fascism to the UK to win the Nazi’s the war.
I know that sounds very disjointed, but with that comes my first critique of this book I had no clue what was happening . I don’t typically read fantasy but I was in the middle of reading Six of Crows when I saw this book with its really cool cover, and I decided to give it a go.
I enjoyed this book’s scenes set in the real world, Iris was a strong protagonist (If a bit annoying) and I liked seeing her at her job and her relationship with Geoff. But I completely just zoned out for the fantastical scenes. If this book had no fantasy elements I would have enjoyed it.
After reading this book I was left with a few questions (they were probably answered in the book but I can’t say I understood much):
What are these mystical creatures?
How was ‘The Order’ founded? In fact, what even is ‘The Order’?
What is nonesuch?
Why does going to random statues get you there?
And. Most importantly: WHY DO THESE ETERNAL BEINGS CARE SO MUCH ABOUT A POLITICAL IDEOLOGY AND WHY DO THEY GET TWO RANDOM PEOPLE TO FIX IT FOR THEM??
Now to characters:
Iris: as I said, she was good but not overly interesting. She had a huge victim mentality because she’s from Watford. I liked her scenes at her job and with Geoff but the amount of times she spoke about how promiscuous she was really ground my gears.
Geoff: fine, minimal personality if I’m being honest. He goes off to the war and comes back with a whole new personality.
Lall: if Geoff had minimal personality, she has none. All there is to know about her is that she’s blonde, beautiful and posh (which of course makes her the clear enemy…) and a fascist. That’s all there is to her.
I gave this book two stars instead of one because I do love historical fiction and if this book had no blue ghosts I think I would have liked it, but it did…
TLDR: don’t read it
WW2-era London, Iris is working in a stockbrokers and leading a very normal life when she meets Geoff. Meeting Geoff brings her into a whole knew world. Suddenly the two are meeting weird spirit/ghost things. The fate of the whole world is in their hands when a fascist starts trying to use the spirits to travel to another world called Nonesuch to try bring fascism to the UK to win the Nazi’s the war.
I know that sounds very disjointed, but with that comes my first critique of this book I had no clue what was happening . I don’t typically read fantasy but I was in the middle of reading Six of Crows when I saw this book with its really cool cover, and I decided to give it a go.
I enjoyed this book’s scenes set in the real world, Iris was a strong protagonist (If a bit annoying) and I liked seeing her at her job and her relationship with Geoff. But I completely just zoned out for the fantastical scenes. If this book had no fantasy elements I would have enjoyed it.
After reading this book I was left with a few questions (they were probably answered in the book but I can’t say I understood much):
What are these mystical creatures?
How was ‘The Order’ founded? In fact, what even is ‘The Order’?
What is nonesuch?
Why does going to random statues get you there?
And. Most importantly: WHY DO THESE ETERNAL BEINGS CARE SO MUCH ABOUT A POLITICAL IDEOLOGY AND WHY DO THEY GET TWO RANDOM PEOPLE TO FIX IT FOR THEM??
Now to characters:
Iris: as I said, she was good but not overly interesting. She had a huge victim mentality because she’s from Watford. I liked her scenes at her job and with Geoff but the amount of times she spoke about how promiscuous she was really ground my gears.
Geoff: fine, minimal personality if I’m being honest. He goes off to the war and comes back with a whole new personality.
Lall: if Geoff had minimal personality, she has none. All there is to know about her is that she’s blonde, beautiful and posh (which of course makes her the clear enemy…) and a fascist. That’s all there is to her.
I gave this book two stars instead of one because I do love historical fiction and if this book had no blue ghosts I think I would have liked it, but it did…
TLDR: don’t read it
March 16, 2026
I was prompted to read this book because of its glowing reviews. I admit I was skeptical about the blending of the realistic depiction of the London Blitz during WWII with the fantastical elements of dark magic Nazis working to manipulate time itself to guarantee a German victory. However, I liked that the protagonist is a woman, Iris Hawkins, who is tasked with battling the evil ambitions of the Nazi cult. And romance and sex spice up the narrative. This ridiculous premise is saved by Spufford’s exceptional prose - making it possible to suspend disbelief - at least until the unsettling end.
March 22, 2026
4.5 rounded up! This book was a complete and utterly delightful surprise! I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into when I started (the book blurb doesn’t do the wonderful weirdness of the novel justice), but I ended up having an absolute blast reading it. I also grew incredibly attached to Iris and Geoff. Their romance felt genuinely real and deeply affecting and is one of the most memorable I’ve read about in a while. My only complaint is the cliffhanger ending. I didn’t realize this was the first book in a duology, and now having to wait for the sequel to find out what happens to Iris and Geoff is going to be tough!
April 6, 2026
Not awful, but also not a book I was particularly enamoured with. Somewhat overwritten, with the scene in the church near the end being particularly irritating. Very much written by A Man (derogatory) - Geoff is a particularly unpleasant individual, yet we are meant to agree with Iris that he is somehow kindness incarnate. Never once apologises for how cruelly he initially treats her when she first comes to him to tell him about the newspaper angel whatsit, calls her a bitch more than once, uses every opportunity to take overdramatic offense at anything she says...
And to top it all off, after I bravely pushed through all 450-odd pages of overwrought, self-indulgent prose, I find that the bloody thing doesn't even *finish*. There is a "to be continued".
And to top it all off, after I bravely pushed through all 450-odd pages of overwrought, self-indulgent prose, I find that the bloody thing doesn't even *finish*. There is a "to be continued".
April 9, 2026
I expected to like this a lot more than I did, sadly. The sections on the Blitz were really effective. But, like The Ministry of Time, the language and relationships felt anachronistic (the lead character often read like she lived today, rather than nearly 100 years ago). And the fantasy element felt too much like hard work to understand - it made me think of how much better Susanna Clarke did something similar in both Piranesi and Jonathan Strange. I wish Susanna Clarke would publish something new!
April 3, 2026
4.5 stars. I loved this story set in the London of 1939 and 1940. Spufford captures life of the time fantastically. I wasn’t so sure about the supernatural elements but they do work into the story well. Half a star deducted for the last three words in the book: ‘To Be Continued’!! Would have put off reading if I knew I had a year wait for the sequel Arcady to be released.
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