As If by Magic
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Nothing is as it seems in the sinuous tales of Brazilian master Edgard Telles Ribeiro
A son embarks on a journey involving a disappearing suitcase, secret police, and a strange letter, while pursuing a father who appears to have fallen victim to Alzheimer’s disease. A man inherits a deserted island and is drawn into the mysterious, possibly deadly affairs of a strange couple on a sailboat. A gold miner in a remote Amazon outpost escapes from a murderous foreman by building an improbable machine. A writer chases the evasive opening sentence of his novel while locked down in his Rio de Janeiro apartment with his wife, until she usurps the narrative.
In the four tales that comprise As If by Magic, Edgard Telles Ribeiro invites us into labyrinthine worlds where what we perceive is only the beginning of the story.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ribeiro (His Own Man) delivers surprises and pathos in equal measure in this skillful collection of three stories and a novella. In "Remains from the Fair," a son contends with his father's Alzheimer's. "Albatross," which begins with a deceptively simple premise—a man inherits an island—quickly morphs into an unnerving mystery after the man turns his binoculars on an unhappy couple on a boat docked nearby and sees one of them holding a gun. "Turn of the River" focuses on a gold miner named Skinny Pedro who becomes determined to build and fly his own plane. The novella, "The Magic Eye," follows an unnamed writer who "knows he has a story to tell" but doesn't know how to begin. He spends his days with his wife, looking at the world outside their apartment through the peephole on the front door and wondering, "Would the reality on the other side of the door permeate his fiction?" The story takes a bizarre turn when his wife's dreams start to influence his novel in progress and take over his life. Ribeiro's mysterious narratives sneak up on the reader with profound revelations. It's a worthy diversion.
