The Magician's Wife

The Magician's Wife
	First edition (Canada)
Author	Brian Moore
Genre	Historical novel
Publisher	Knopf (Canada); Bloomsbury (UK); Dutton (US)
Publication date	1997
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Print
Pages	215
ISBN	978-0-7475-3718-2
OCLC	247666817
Preceded by	The Statement (1995)
Followed by	The Dear Departed: Selected Short Stories (2020)

Last updated January 04, 2026

The Magician's Wife, published in 1997, was the last novel^[1] by the Northern Irish-Canadian writer Brian Moore. Set in 1856,^[2] it tells the story of a famous French magician (based on the real-life Jean-Eugene Robert-Houdin) who is despatched by Emperor Napoleon III to help France subdue the Arab population in war-torn Algeria.

Reception

Reviewing the book for The New York Times , Thomas Mallon said: "Combining actual and invented figures requires a particular sleight of hand, and in The Magician's Wife Moore accomplishes this mingling without giving any glimpse of a false bottom or secret compartment... The Magician's Wife, combining so many of Moore's longtime preoccupations and themes, proves to be one of his neatest tricks yet."^[3] Brian St. Pierre in the San Francisco Chronicle described it as a "deft and absorbing novel".^[2] John Muncie, reviewing the novel for the Baltimore Sun , said that The Magician's Wife "plays with French history and the power of illusion... Moore writes with propulsive clarity. The reader is immediately entangled."^[4]

References

↑ Walsh, John (14 January 1999). "Obituary: Brian Moore". The Guardian . Retrieved 15 September 2012.
1 2 St. Pierre, Brian (25 January 1998). "Illusions of French Colonialism". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved 3 August 2012.
↑ Mallon, Thomas (1 February 1998). "Sleight of Hand". The New York Times . Retrieved 4 November 2011.
↑ Muncie, John (11 January 1998). "Moore's 'Magician's Wife' – imperial magic". Baltimore Sun . Retrieved 20 July 2015.

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[Guardian-1] Walsh, John (14 January 1999). "Obituary: Brian Moore". The Guardian . Retrieved 15 September 2012.

[St_Pierre-2] 1 2 St. Pierre, Brian (25 January 1998). "Illusions of French Colonialism". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved 3 August 2012.

[3] Mallon, Thomas (1 February 1998). "Sleight of Hand". The New York Times . Retrieved 4 November 2011.

[4] Muncie, John (11 January 1998). "Moore's 'Magician's Wife' – imperial magic". Baltimore Sun . Retrieved 20 July 2015.

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v t e Works by Brian Moore
Novels	Early fiction (1951–57) Judith Hearne (1955) The Feast of Lupercal (1957) The Luck of Ginger Coffey (1960) An Answer from Limbo (1962) The Emperor of Ice-Cream (1965) I Am Mary Dunne (1968) Fergus (1970) The Revolution Script (1971) Catholics (1972) The Great Victorian Collection (1975) The Doctor's Wife (1976) The Mangan Inheritance (1979) The Temptation of Eileen Hughes (1981) Cold Heaven (1983) Black Robe (1985) The Colour of Blood (1987) Lies of Silence (1990) No Other Life (1993) The Statement (1995) The Magician's Wife (1997)
Short stories	The Dear Departed: Selected Short Stories (2020)
Screenplays	The Luck of Ginger Coffey (1964) Torn Curtain (1966) Catholics (TV film, 1973) The Blood of Others (1984) Control (Il giorno prima) (1987) The Temptation of Eileen Hughes (TV film, 1988) Black Robe (1991)