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The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett
I picked up this book because I so enjoyed Bel Canto. The main character is Sabine, assistant to the magician Parsifal who is also her husband. She has known him for about 20 years yet he has kept his family secret. Upon his death, she learns of his mother and sister and helps them to know the Parsifal of the last 20 years. Likewise, she travels from LA to Nebraska to visit them and fill in the early years of Parsifal's life. Sabine is deeply in love with Parsifal but there marriage isn't at all conventional -- he is gay and she lives with him and his lover, Phan. Given that, it is still a love story of sorts and also a beautiful examination of grief.
The book is well written and the characters well developed. I felt I "knew" Parsifal even though the book takes place after his death. The story relies on some amount of magic and convincing the audience of what is happening but is done in a subtle way.
I picked up this book because I so enjoyed Bel Canto. The main character is Sabine, assistant to the magician Parsifal who is also her husband. She has known him for about 20 years yet he has kept his family secret. Upon his death, she learns of his mother and sister and helps them to know the Parsifal of the last 20 years. Likewise, she travels from LA to Nebraska to visit them and fill in the early years of Parsifal's life. Sabine is deeply in love with Parsifal but there marriage isn't at all conventional -- he is gay and she lives with him and his lover, Phan. Given that, it is still a love story of sorts and also a beautiful examination of grief.
The book is well written and the characters well developed. I felt I "knew" Parsifal even though the book takes place after his death. The story relies on some amount of magic and convincing the audience of what is happening but is done in a subtle way.