The Magician’s Wife: A Novel.

New York, NY Dutton: William Abrams Books, 1998. Hardcover First Edition USA, (1998); First Printing indicated by a complete numerical sequence. Previously published in 1997 by Bloomsbury in London. First Edition USA, (1998); First Printing indicated by a complete numerical sequence. Near Fine in a Very Near Fine DJ. The Book shows moderate shelving wear along bottom edge of the cream and powder blue boards with crimping to heel of the backstrip; a mild nudge to the upper rear corner tip; .the binding is square and secure; the text is clean. Free of creased or dog-eared pages in the text.. Free of any underlining, hi-lighting or marginalia or marks in the text. Free of any ownership names, dates, addresses, notations, inscriptions, stamps, plates, or labels. A handsome copy, structurally sound and tightly bound, showing minor, unobtrusive imperfections. Bright and Clean. Close to 'As New'. The DJ shows the slightest crimping to the heel of the backstrip; else flawless; the price is intact. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. (8.8 x 5.85 x 1 inches). 229 pages. Language: English. Weight: 14.5 ounces. Previously published in 1997 by Bloomsbury in London. Hardback with DJ. Brian Moore has been described as "one of the few genuine masters of the contemporary novel". He was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1975 and the inaugural Sunday Express Book of the Year award in 1987, and he was shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times (in 1976, 1987 and 1990). He was awarded the 1994 Robert Kirsch Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Los Angeles Times for his novels. The Magician's Wife was his last novel. It is a deeply unsettling novel with a moral problem at its heart. When Napoleon III asks magician Henri Lambert to go to Algeria and put his powers in competition with an Arab holy man threatening jihad against the French, Henri and his young wife Emmeline are indelibly altered. If Lambert succeeds in postponing the intervention of the French army, does he save the lives of soldiers and Arab Algerians alike? Or do all just die a bit later? This may seem a trite - or merely academic question - but Moore succeeds in making it deep and meaningful. Along the way, he captures the heat and beauty of Algeria as well as the sensual lure of the French soldier who troubles the Magician's wife's contentment.