The tale of two feuding Victorian magicians with dark dealy secrets the plot is like a nest of Chinese boxes so take nothing at face value
Synopsis
The Prestige by Christopher Priest
Two 19th century stage illusionists, the aristocratic Rupert Angier and the working-class Alfred Borden, engage in a bitter and deadly feud; the effects are still being felt by their respective families a hundred years later.
Working in the gaslight-and-velvet world of Victorian music halls, they prowl edgily in the background of each other's shadowy life, driven to the extremes by a deadly combination of obsessive secrecy and insatiable curiosity.
At the heart of the row is an amazing illusion they both perform during their stage acts. The secret of the magic is simple, and the reader is in on it almost from the start, but to the antagonists the real mystery lies deeper. Both have something more to hide than the mere workings of a trick.
Reviews
'A brilliantly constructed entertainment, with a plot as simple and intricate as a nest of Chinese boxes . . . a dizzying magic show of a novel' WASHINGTON POST
About the Author
Christopher Priest's novels have built him an inimitable dual reputation as a contemporary novelist and a leading figure in modern SF and fantasy. His novel THE PRESTIGE is unique in winning both a major literary prize (the James Tait Black Award) and a major genre prize (The World Fantasy Award); THE SEPARATION won both the Arthur C Clarke and the British Science Fiction Awards. He was selected for the original Best of Young British Novelists in1983. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation
19 Jun
1816 Frankenstein was created. Mary, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron and others were staying at Byron's villa on lake Geneva - On this stormy night they decided to all write ghost stories - Mary's would become Frankenstein. Read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
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