The Prestige
The literary masterpiece about a feud that spans generations
Author: Christopher Priest Series: Gollancz S.F.
'A brilliantly constructed entertainment, with a plot as simple and intricate as a nest of Chinese boxes ... a dizzying magic show of a novel' WASHINGTON POST
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Summary
'A brilliantly constructed entertainment, with a plot as simple and intricate as a nest of Chinese boxes ... a dizzying magic show of a novel' WASHINGTON POST
Description
Two 19th century stage illusionists, the aristocratic Rupert Angier and the working-class Alfred Borden, engage in a bitter and deadly feud; the effects are still being felt by their respective families a hundred years later. Working in the gaslight-and-velvet world of Victorian music halls, both men prowl edgily in the background of each other's shadowy life, driven to the extremes by a deadly combination of obsessive secrecy and insatiable curiosity. At the heart of the row is an amazing illusion they both perform during their stage acts. The secret of the magic is simple, and the reader is in on it almost from the start, but to the antagonists the real mystery lies deeper. Both have something more to hide than the mere workings of a trick.
Awards
Winner of World Fantasy Award 1996 (UK)
Winner of James Tait Black Memorial Prize 1995 (UK)
Short-listed for Arthur C. Clarke Award 1996 (UK)
Short-listed for British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel 1996 (UK)
Critic Reviews
“The prestige is certainly at home in the presitgious SF masterworks series, You can't lose - and that's no illusion! - British Fantasy Society”
About the Author
Christopher Priest's novels have built him an inimitable dual reputation as a contemporary novelist and a leading figure in modern SF and fantasy. His novel The Prestige won both a prestigious literary award and a major genre prize; The Separation won Britain's two major SF awards. He was selected for the original Best of Young British Novelists in1983 and has gone from strength to strength ever since.
Two 19th century stage illusionists, the aristocratic Rupert Angier and the working-class Alfred Borden, engage in a bitter and deadly feud; the effects are still being felt by their respective families a hundred years later. Working in the gaslight-and-velvet world of Victorian music halls, both men prowl edgily in the background of each other's shadowy life, driven to the extremes by a deadly combination of obsessive secrecy and insatiable curiosity. At the heart of the row is an amazing illusion they both perform during their stage acts. The secret of the magic is simple, and the reader is in on it almost from the start, but to the antagonists the real mystery lies deeper. Both have something more to hide than the mere workings of a trick.
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