One of Robert Goddard's favourite books.

March 2011 Guest Editor Robert Goddard on The Magus...

After Wilkie Collins, John Fowles was my other great literary inspiration when I started out. It’s hard to believe how neglected his work now is. Technically, his finest achievement was probably The French Lieutenant’s Woman, but The Magus is bigger, grander and altogether more absorbing. It’s a book that gives you a whole world to lose yourself in. In the brazen heat and glare of the Aegean, Nicholas Urfe is sucked into the seductive heart of a surreal mystery – and we are sucked in with him.

Synopsis

On a remote Greek Island, Nicholas Urfe finds himself embroiled in the deceptions of a master trickster. As reality and illusion intertwine, Urfe is caught up in the darkest of psychological games. John Fowles expertly unfolds a tale that is lush with over-powering imagery in a spellbinding exploration of human complexities. By turns disturbing, thrilling and seductive, The Magus is a feast for the mind and the senses.

Reviews

'A major work of mounting tensions in which the human mind is the guinea-pig... Mr Fowles has taken a big swing at a difficult subject and his hits are on the bull's eye' Sunday Telegraph

'A deliciously toothsome celebration of wanton story-telling' Sunday Times

'A splendidly sustained piece of mystification' Financial Times

About the Author

John Fowles was born in 1926. He won international recognition with The Collector, his first published title, in 1963. He was immediately acclaimed as an outstandingly innovative writer of exceptional imaginative power, and this reputation was confirmed with the appearance of his subsequent works: The Aristos, The Magus, The French Lieutenant's Woman, The Ebony Tower, Daniel Martin, Mantissa, and A Maggot. John Fowles died in Lyme Regis in 2005. Two volumes of his Journals have recently been published; the first in 2003, the second in 2006. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation