The Magician by Colm Toibin is a superb novel that tells the life of Thomas Mann - a story of unrequited love, exile, war and family. His life was filled with great acclaim and contradiction. He would find himself on the wrong side of history in the First World War, cheerleading the German army, but have a clear vision of the future in the second, anticipating the horrors of Nazism.
He would have six children and keep his homosexuality hidden; he was a man forever connected to his family and yet bore witness to the ravages of suicide. He would write some of the greatest works of European literature, and win the Nobel Prize, but would never return to the country that inspired his creativity.
Winner of the David Cohen Prize.
Sunday Times Top Ten Best-seller.
Paperback 448 pages.
Approx: 13 x 19.7 cm.