Another moving short novel by the author of one of my favorite books recently, “Mothering Sunday.” In 1959, just as vaudevillian acts and the type of variety shows common in tourist locations are beginning to lose their appeal to television entertainment, Ronnie, a magician; Evie, his lovely assistant; and Jack, the master of ceremonies, are performing at a theater on the pier in Brighton, England. We first meet Ronnie, an only child born into a poor neighborhood who left it for a more privileged home in the country when many young children were sent out of London to escape World War II’s blitz. There he learned magic from Mr. Lawrence and a different way of living from his wife. The couple, sadly childless after a dangerous birth and loss of the baby, are more than happy to be surrogate parents. When he returns to his mother’s home as a teenager, his mostly absent sailor father having gone permanently missing during the War, he no longer fits into his former life. He begins to make his way as the magician Pablo (a play on his middle name, Paul) before he being drafted into the peacetime army. There he meets Jack, who will eventually invite him to Brighton to perform his magic, assuming he can find the proper (read attractive female) assistant. Evie, the first and only person Ronnie interviews, fills the bill completely. Everyone loves Jack, but it is the show that Ronnie and Evie, who quickly become a couple, develop that will bring in crowds as the summer goes on. After their final amazing act, Ronnie disappears. Like “Mothering Sunday,” the book then fast-forwards into the future a half century or so later, focusing on Evie now. A year previously, Evie lost her husband, Jack, who she married after Ronnie’s disappearance. Jack had developed into a famous actor and celebrity over the intervening years. This summary does no justice to the language, imagery, nuance, and staying power of this book. Magical. 195 pp.
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