The Magician's Wife
3/5
()
Unavailable in your country
Unavailable in your country
About this ebook
A mesmerising novel from three-time Booker Prize nominee Brian Moore
_________________
'A spellbinding storyteller' - Independent
'A tour de force' - New York Times
'Moore is a magician' - LA Times
_________________
France, 1856.
Emmeline Lambert is married to an illusionist sent by Napoleon III to persuade the Arabs - poised for holy war and in thrall to charismatic leaders - that France's might and magic are the greater. Emmeline begins to feel like an illusionist herself, when she dazzles the Emperor and then sheds her inhibitions along with flimsy notions of patriotism and propriety in the hot glare of the Algerian sun.
Power, politics, religion and love, the court of Napoleon III and the deserts of Algeria combine in this mesmerising novel from a master storyteller.
James M. Cain
James M. Cain (1892–1977) was one of the most important authors in the history of crime fiction. Born in Maryland, he became a journalist after giving up on a childhood dream of singing opera. After two decades writing for newspapers in Baltimore, New York, and the army—and a brief stint as the managing editor of the New Yorker—Cain moved to Hollywood in the early 1930s. While writing for the movies, he turned to fiction, penning the novella The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934). This tightly wound tale of passion, murder, and greed became one of the most controversial bestsellers of its day, and remains one of the foremost examples of American noir writing. It set the tone for Cain’s next few novels, including Serenade (1937), Mildred Pierce (1941), Double Indemnity (1943), and The Butterfly (1947). Several of his books became equally successful noir films, particularly the classic 1940s adaptations of Mildred Pierce and Double Indemnity. Cain moved back to Maryland in 1948. Though he wrote prolifically until his death, Cain remains most famous for his early work.
Read more from James M. Cain
Los Angeles Noir 2: The Classics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Crime Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Career in C Major: And Other Fiction Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Magician's Wife Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Moth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Baby in the Icebox: And Other Short Fiction Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Enchanted Isle Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Rainbow's End Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Root of His Evil Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSinful Woman Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Jealous Woman Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Past All Dishonor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Nine Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Galatea Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Institute Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5
Related to The Magician's Wife
Related ebooks
The Magician's Wife: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Exploits of Juve: Being the Second of the Series of the "Fantômas" Detective Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Exploits of Juve: Fantômas Mystery Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEnter Sir John Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Exploits of Juve: Fantômas Saga Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDope Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mysteries of Udolpho - Volume 3 by Ann Radcliffe: "Employment is the surest antidote to sorrow." Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMurder chez Proust: A Mystery Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Queen of Spades, The Captain's Daughter and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Quest A Romance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Count's Millions (The Count's Millions Part I) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Rapin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChatelaine, one day ... Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Feathered Serpent Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lantern Moon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Count's Millions: Pascal and Marguerite & Baron Trigault's Vengeance - Historical Mystery Novels Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Strange Case of Mortimer Fenley Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jack Bolt and the Highwaymen's Hideout Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Mysteries of Paris, Volume 5 of 6 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSisters of the Resistance: A Novel of Catherine Dior's Paris Spy Network Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Diamonds of Death Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Broken Thread Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOther People’s Money Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDouble V Mysteries Vol. 1-3: Double V Mysteries Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mysteries of Paris. Volume 5: Historical novel in six volumes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Glory of Clementina Wing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCarmarthen Underground, The Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMute Witness Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Count's Millions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPrince Fortunatus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Historical Fiction For You
Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Demon Copperhead: A Pulitzer Prize Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House of Eve Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hallowe'en Party: Inspiration for the 20th Century Studios Major Motion Picture A Haunting in Venice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lady Tan's Circle of Women: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yellow Wife: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5East of Eden Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The House Is on Fire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Euphoria Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Invisible Hour: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Tender Land: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Have Always Lived in the Castle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rebecca Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sold on a Monday: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Journals of Sacajewea: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Red Tent - 20th Anniversary Edition: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pale Blue Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rules of Magic: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Second Life of Mirielle West: A Haunting Historical Novel Perfect for Book Clubs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Kitchen House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Island of Sea Women: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Magic Lessons: The Prequel to Practical Magic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Quiet American Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sisters Brothers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I, Claudius Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Magic: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Magician's Wife
5 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Emmeline Lambert is the young wife of the most famous magician in France, Henri Lambert. When he wooed her, he performed daily in his own Paris theatre, he flattered her and his life was exciting. Emmeline married Henri despite her father's protests. Eight years later, Henri retired from the stage young and moved his household to the country, where he works on his inventions. Emmeline has had two miscarriages, and though she doesn't believe she is still in love with her husband, she resents that he neglects her.In their quiet life comes an enormous honor, and invitation to join a week long party at the Emperor's. While Emmeline realizes that she isn't a part of the aristocratic world, Henri leaps at the chance to gain more prestige, and so they go. Why Napoleon III would want both the magician and his wife to attend is revealed in time, but Emmeline sees a benefit to herself, as she decides that a dashing Colonel will be her way of getting back at Henri for his neglect.I've read several of Moore's novels, yet this is the only one that fell flat for me towards the end. Emmeline began as a rather sympathetic character, unhappy, bored and lonely, though so introverted that she was afraid to go to the country estate. She became so angry at the why she was being manipulated by the men around her that she actually commits a selfish, traitorous act, one that puts thousands of lives at immediate risk, in the name of relieving her guilt.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henri Lambert is a stage magician who is recruited by Napoleon III to go to North Africa on a mission that is vital to France's colonial aspirations.Emmeline, his wife, is sent with him. She ultimately makes a decision that could ruin the mission and destroy her husband and their marriage.This book was not great, but it was interesting and enjoyable.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The most amazing thing about this book is that I finished reading it! Mostly boring, too much complex political stuff for me. I don't know what the reviewers liked about this book. The protagonist seemed confused and was not easy to like. Some of her reactions to circumstances were totally unlike her character.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The story at the heart of Brian Moore’s novel The Magician’s Wife is based on true historical events. That proves to be both the main source of its interest and, ultimately, the primary reason it fails to satisfy.The story opens in France, 1856, and is told through the eyes of Emmeline Lambert, who is the wife of France’s most famous magician, Henri Lambert. Henri is being courted by the Emperor himself, Napoleon III, to lead a secret effort deemed critical to France’s national interest. I won’t tell you what that effort is – Moore builds suspense in the novel by keeping both Emmeline and readers in the dark about the Emperor’s goals. But I will tell you that what Napoleon is planning involves Henri Lambert’s powers of prestidigitation and it really happened in France and Algeria between 1856 and 1857 (though Moore has changed the names of those involved in order to craft his fictionalized version of events).I can also say the Emperor’s plan involves a head-to-head competition between Christian and Muslim theologies and worldviews, which is particularly interesting in light of the turmoil that same clash of worldviews is causing to this day. Read the book to see just how far some went in their efforts to subjugate another sovereign people; read it to be amazed and provoked by the thought they would do such a thing and the thought that we’re still fighting many of the same battles today.But don’t read this novel expecting a satisfying journey of fully-developed characters, full of surprise and who, ultimately, experience real growth. Emmeline starts the story as an insecure, vaguely dissatisfied woman unable to connect with her husband or his work; by the end of the story she is perhaps slightly less insecure, but is just as dissatisfied; Henri begins as an ambitious and oblivious husband and he’s largely unchanged by the end of the story; Emmeline’s is a “fish-out-of-water” experience as she moves from her quiet country existence to the world of the French Royal Court and then to the exoticism of Algeria, but she doesn’t truly ever develop a sense of comfort in these new environments and, in the end, she retreats back to her comfort zone. These characters follow closely the course traced by the real people they’re based on and Moore seems constrained, limited, by his awareness of the historical basis of his story. Ironically, as a result, The Magician’s Wife is mildly interesting, but it doesn’t transport—frankly, it lacks magic.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is the first Brian Moore novel I have read and, it appears, it was the last novel he wrote. I picked it up in a bargain bookstore and bought it as a first sampling of Brian Moore’s writing. The picture on the cover and the title led me to believe it was a medieval murder mystery but I was wrong. I discovered I was wrong in quite a pleasant way. As I started reading the book I realised it was set in 1850s France and written, as the title might suggest, from the viewpoint of a woman married to a magician. As the story unfolded I learnt that the magician and his wife lived near Tours, the magician had a workshop where he had people make items to his design, and that he was marvellous at making automata. This was enough information to raise my suspicions. The details of the magician’s life struck me as familiar. Although the character of the magician in the book is called Harry Lambert his life reminded me of the details I had learnt during my visits to “La Maison de la Magie” (The house of the magician) in Blois, France, less than an hour’s drive East of Tours.La Maison de la Magie is a museum containing the magic and automata of the great French magician Robert-Houdin, the man who so impressed another young magician that he used the name Houdini for his stage name, in honour of the French master.It took very little effort in this Internet day to discover that Brian Moore had based his character on Robert-Houdin and that the main action of the story was based on Robert-Houdin’s journey to Algeria at the request of Napoleon III to impress the local population with his magic tricks and to undermine the local religious leaders who were drumming up resistance to France and claiming to work miracles.Moore has played around with some of the facts of the journey to France, but the basic story is relatively intact. At the end of the day the novel is fiction, but with the aid of readily available material on the Internet I was able to see where the fact ended and the fantasy began.This was an enjoyable read and I feel anyone wanting to get a sense of life in the court of Napoleon III could do worse than read this book. Reading this prompted me to delve into the history of Algeria a little more and a book that does that cannot be regarded as bad.