The Magician's Assistant The Magician's Assistant

The Magician's Assistant

    • 3.8 • 174 Ratings
    • $7.99

Publisher Description

From the bestselling author of The Dutch House, a secretive magician’s death becomes the catalyst for his partner’s journey of self-discovery in this “enchanting” book (San Francisco Chronicle) “that is something of a magic trick in itself.” (Newsweek)

When Parsifal, a handsome and charming magician, dies suddenly, his widow Sabine—who was also his faithful assistant for twenty years—learns that the family he claimed to have lost in a tragic accident is very much alive and well. Sabine is left to unravel his secrets, and the journey she takes, from sunny Los Angeles to the bitter windswept plains of Nebraska, will work its own magic on her.

Sabine's extraordinary tale, “with its big dreams, vast spaces, and disparate realities lying side by side” captures the hearts of its readers and “proves to be the perfect place for miraculous transformations.” (The New Yorker)

GENRE
Fiction & Literature
RELEASED
2004
September 17
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
368
Pages
PUBLISHER
Harper
SELLER
HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS
SIZE
1.1
MB

Customer Reviews

terijune99 ,

Over too soon

I feel there’s way more to this tale than was told. So many unanswered questions and loose ends. I hope there’s a sequel.

sleepyonkauai ,

A total surprise

What a wonderful story of discovery this is. Sabine, the assistant, learns the true history of her husband, the magician’s, family. That truth is the basis of the best trick of all, learning who she truly is.

JDurham5058 ,

Another great Ann Patchett read

This is an earlier Patchett book, one I’d never heard of until recently. Such a beautiful read. The characters embody the far ends of character spectrum — extremely quirky on one end and morbidly mid-America-boring on the other. But people are never what they seem. Quirky may have started as someone entirely different, while mid-America-boring may have quite a lot going on beneath the surface. Ann Patchett is a genius at reading people, then creating characters with real, imperfect lives. She is also the master of detail. Particularly emotional detail. The smallest touch, glance, breath, movement expresses the character’s thoughts and emotions without using a word. In Ann Patchett’s literary works, words are almost redundant, limiting. It is the closing of an eye, the twitch of a finger, the holding of a breath that elegantly tells the story.

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