Swift, Graham

How did Evie White, the scrappy magician’s assistant and fiancée, end up with Jack Robbins, the small-time impresario, and where did Ronnie Deane go? The questions aren’t neatly wrapped up at the novel’s conclusion, but Swift’s (Mothering Sunday) beguiling tale makes the journey worthwhile. [See Prepub Alert, 11/4/19.]

Few stories are longer than ten pages, and some are only four or five pages, but within the confines of brevity Swift manages to create lives and invest them with drama and import. Although war and death are sometimes featured, the impact and dramatic force is usually focused on the personal, the emotional, and the slighter nuances of character, memory, and regret, which is what makes them memorable. [See Prepub Alert, 11/24/14.]