Nonesuch

A Novel

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About The Book

A spellbinding tale about an ambitious young woman who must thwart an occult plot by time-traveling fascists during the chaos of the London Blitz—from “one of our most powerful writers of wayward historical fiction” (The Washington Post).

“The novel fairly cackles with glee at its capacity to summon excitement from all corners of time and space.” —The New York Times Book Review

Following the acclaim of Golden Hill and Cahokia Jazz, Francis Spufford delivers a masterpiece of literary fantasy, hailed by Joe Hill as “a book that scoops up all the wonder and hope and pleasure of the Narnia novels, and pours it into a story for grown-ups.”

It’s the summer of 1939, and the air in London is thick with the tension of impending war. Iris Hawkins, a fiery young financial secretary, has a chance encounter with Geoff, a genius engineer from the new technology of television. What was supposed to be one night of abandon draws her instead into a nightmare of otherworldly pursuit—into a reality where time bends, spirits can be summoned, and history hangs by a thread. Soon there are Nazi planes droning overhead. In a time when death falls randomly from above each night, when the streets are darker than the wildest forest and all the men are away in uniform, the defense of the city is in the hands of its women. But Iris has more to contend with than just the terrors of the Blitz. Over the rooftops of burning London, in the twisted passages between past and present, through the vast night sky and across the tiny screens of early television, a fascist fanatic is travelling with a gun in her hand, and only Iris can stop her altering the course of history forever.

Both a thrilling page-turner and a profound exploration of ambition, love, and the fight against tyranny, Nonesuch is a story that is as enchanting as it is urgent. Packed with twists, tension and wonder, it is a triumph of storytelling.

Reading Group Guide

This reading group guide for NONESUCH includes discussion questions and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.

Topics & Questions for Discussion

The prologue thrusts the reader into the middle of a magical story and ends with the line “But that was much later.” How does this set the scene for the story and its characters? What does it tell us about the story’s world?

After leaving Wildwood Terrace, how do Iris’s feelings shift after her night with Geoff? Do you think they would have met again had it not been for the angel?

While discussing their first meeting at the Kinesis Club, Iris tells Lall “I took Fortress Geoff pretty much by surprise attack, if you know what I mean” (page 151). Besides what she is insinuating, in what other ways does this ring true?

While Iris is initially hesitant to return to Wildwood Terrace and visit Mr. Hale, what do you think compels her to continue returning?

How does Iris and Geoff’s relationship grow once he is drafted into the army? Reflect on how Iris’s perspective changes in her letters to him after her initial hesitation to respond.

Discuss the parallels between the Order and Grand Master and the fascists during World War II. How do you feel about Mr. Hale being a member of the Order, something Bluey even pointed out?

Iris and Lall have opposing motives throughout the story, beginning with their initial conversation on their political views up until the journey to Nonesuch. What are the similarities between the two women?

Much of the book takes place during the London Blitz. How does this historical context contribute to the tension of Iris’s mission to find Nonesuch?

During one of the nightly raids, Iris reflects on her relationship with Geoff after he visits on leave. She reminds herself “He is motherless. . . . He is frightened of the people he loves disappearing” (page 315). In what ways can we see how Geoff’s upbringing affects him and his relationship with Iris?

Iris confesses her ambitions to be rich in a conversation with Geoff about the war. She admits “I do like money. . . . I want to be a tycoon . . . and when I am, I want everyone to know that I’m also Iris Hawkins from Watford” (pages 394–95). Do her aspirations surprise you? Recall other parts in the book where we may have seen these ambitions hinted at earlier.

Which London do you think Iris feels more at home in, the safe but conventional city of the opening, or the place of fire and ruin we see London becoming?

Enhance Your Book Club

Discuss what you hope to see in the upcoming sequel, Arcady. What predictions do you have for Iris, Geoff, and the rest of London?

Light Perpetual, also by Francis Spufford, delves into twentieth century history in London, starting in 1944. Discuss how the author weaves in real-life events into his stories and how London compares in both novels.

About The Author

© Antonio Olmos

Francis Spufford began as the author of four highly praised books of nonfiction. His first book, I May Be Some Time, won the Writers Guild Award for Best Nonfiction Book, the Banff Mountain Book Prize, and a Somerset Maugham Award. It was followed by The Child That Books BuiltBackroom Boys, and most recently, Unapologetic. But with Red Plenty, he switched to the novel. Golden Hill won multiple literary prizes on both sides of the Atlantic; Light Perpetual was longlisted for the Booker Prize; and Cahokia Jazz was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History. In England, he is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Historical Society. He teaches writing at Goldsmiths College, University of London.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Scribner (March 10, 2026)
  • Length: 496 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781668214374

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Raves and Reviews

“The novel fairly cackles with glee at its capacity to summon excitement from all corners of time and space...[Nonesuch] does what few time-travel fantasies do: It laughs about the pleasure that can be had once we grant ourselves the power to change history. At the same time, however, it asks questions, as all time-travel novels do, about who gets to tinker with time, and who lives at its mercy.” —Louisa Hall, New York Times

“It’s just brilliant. The fantasy elements make the reality of the London Blitz even more real that it is in other novels. I just loved this book … Francis Spufford is a brilliant, funny, lovingly wonderful novelist.”—Bill Goldstein, NBC New York

“Radiant...This is a book interested more in people and place than in plot, and Iris—one of the most perceptively written women ever produced by a male novelist—shares main-character status with London itself. Spufford, a vivid stylist, wants the reader to feel and smell and hear what it was like to live in the city during wartime.” —Laura Miller, Slate

“Nonesuch is a historical fantasy set during the second world war, every paragraph of which is packed with authorial zest.” —The Guardian

"A stunning Narnia for grown-ups.”People

“The sheer scale of Spufford’s imagination allows for some truly cinematic set pieces. As much as I loved the spectacle—which at one point has Iris hundreds of feet in the sky as German bombers hammer London—it’s the authentic moments, grounded in history, that hit home.” —Locus

“[A] breezy genre mash-up... there are lively depictions of the Blitz, plenty of sex and a rom-com’s worth of flirtatious patter." —Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal

"A time-bending tale populated by specters and Nazi planes." —The New York Times, "The Novels Everyone Will Be Talking About in 2026"

"It’s His Dark Materials meets the blitz: the deep satisfactions of children’s literature reclaimed for adults who still want stories in which the world is wondrous." —Observer (UK)

"If you read books for a living, the calling probably started with a moment of utter entrancement: a novel you couldn't bear to set down ... such books are rarer these days, but they do still happen ... Nonesuch does the trick ... This novel deserves to be a colossal success."
The Spectator

"Brilliantly brought to life by a literary magician, who ends with a plot twist equivalent to making someone disappear ... all Spufford has to do now is repeat the same trick, just as well." —The Telegraph

“A lavish historical fantasy of a secretary and her lover battling time-traveling fascists on the eve of WWII… Spufford sustains the tension all the way to the miraculous finale. Readers will be enthralled.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"Equal parts stunning historical fiction and daring fantasy, Nonesuch is a remarkable journey into the imagination of a brilliant writer.” —BookPage, Starred Review

"What a joy! Bejewelled with dazzling prose, propulsive as a rocket, mandala-complex in its worldbuilding, and corkscrewing jubilantly through fantasy, history, romance, occultism, adventure, and the wartime Stock Exchange, Nonesuch is a novel with endless ingenuity and an enormous heart." —Kaliane Bradley, New York Times bestselling author of The Ministry of Time

"Spufford’s novels hit the sweet spot between literary brilliance and hopelessly addictive." —Mail on Sunday

"Pulls no punches in its exploration of the particular character of British fascism . . . Nonesuch is more of a genre-defying, time-and-space-bending experience rather than a novel: at once historical and extremely timely for our current political climate." —Dazed Digital

"Nonesuch salts actual history with the conventions of the fantastic in a way that thrills me, but by now that feels like a trademark of Spufford’s writing. Here are the most interesting (and terrifying angels) since Madeline L’Engle, and the human characters, too, are so full of life and feeling they practically set fire to the pages as you turn them." —Kelly Link, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Book of Love

"A gripping, otherworldly adventure set during the London Blitz. . . . Nonesuch is a rollicking read. Superbly plotted, it thunders along at breakneck speed until the gasp-inducing, heartbreaking final twist. " —The Bookseller (UK)

"I feel like I've been waiting all my adult life for Nonesuch to come along: a book that scoops up all the wonder and hope and pleasure of the Narnia novels, and pours it into a story for grown-up. The book itself is a kind of enchantment, as powerful as any of the great and harrowing spells cast within its pages, and I was entirely ensorcelled. You simply. Must. Read. This. Book." —Joe Hill

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