"It isn't possible," Norrell declares, yet there is a degree of uncertainty to it. As if he fears being wrong, fears there might yet be some mystical book he does not know of. "James, he said the author was. James! I have not heard of any James writing some great book, certainly not one disguised as a fiction. Who would do such a thing!"

Such a thing is a nonsense! Hiding a book as fiction. Norrell despises mysticism, despises such puzzles and vagueness. Clarity is what he values, and is of course the opposite of most everything the fae do.