2022-2023 Book Review Series with Cathy Tile

The Magician Novel by Colm Toibin

From one of today’s most brilliant and beloved novelists, a dazzling, epic family saga set across a half-century spanning World War I, the rise of Hitler, World War II, and the Cold War that is “a feat of literary sorcery in its own right” (Oprah Daily).

The Magician opens in a provincial German city at the turn of the twentieth century, where the boy, Thomas Mann, grows up with a conservative father, bound by propriety, and a Brazilian mother, alluring and unpredictable. Young Mann hides his artistic aspirations from his father and his homosexual desires from everyone.

In this “exquisitely sensitive” (The Wall Street Journal) novel, Tóibín has crafted “a complex but empathetic portrayal of a writer in a lifelong battle against his innermost desires, his family, and the tumultuous times they endure” (Time), and “you’ll find yourself savoring every page” (Vogue).

Series includes:

Mon. Oct 24: The Promise by Damon Galgut
Mon. Nov 28: Fight Night by Miriam Toews
Mon. Jan. 30: The Magician Novel by Colm Toibin
Mon. Mar. 20: The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict
Mon. May 8: The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams