The Magician

Author(s): Colm Tóibín, Colm Toibin

General Fiction

When the Great War breaks out in 1914 Thomas Mann, like so many of his fellow countrymen, is fired up with patriotism. He imagines the Germany of great literature and music, which had drawn him away from the stifling, conservative town of his childhood, might be a source of pride once again. But his flawed vision will form the beginning of a dark and complex relationship with his homeland, and see the start of great conflict within his own brilliant and troubled family. Colm Tóibín's epic novel is the story of a man of intense contradictions. Although Thomas Mann becomes famous and admired, his inner life is hesitant, fearful and secretive. His blindness to impending disaster in the Great War will force him to rethink his relationship with Germany as Hitler comes to power. He has six children with his clever and fascinating wife, Katia, while his own secret desires appear threaded through his writing. He and Katia deal with exile bravely, doing everything possible to keep the family safe, yet they also suffer the terrible ravages of suicide among Thomas's siblings, and their own children.In The Magician, Colm Tóibín captures the profound personal conflict of a very public life, and through this life creates an intimate portrait of the twentieth century.

Matilda Bookshop Review


The Magician takes us deep into the heart and mind of Thomas Mann, a famed German author from the turn of the 20th century. Toibin’s graceful, unpretentious writing guides us through Mann’s storied life, his writing career and explores the intense yet unrequited sensual and erotic life that secretly defined him. Toibin also paints a vivid picture of Mann’s immediate family, their foibles and passions, and how the epochal geopolitical events that lead to WWI and WWII impacts on them all. The Magician is a masterful novel that I simply could not put down. Gavin

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Product Information

2022 Rathbones Folio Prize  

Colm Tóibín was named, in January 2022, as the new laureate for Irish fiction

General Fields

  • : 9781760984113
  • : Pan Macmillan Australia
  • : Picador Australia
  • : 0.554
  • : May 2021
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : FA
  • : 448
  • : very good
  • : English
  • : Paperback
  • : Colm Tóibín, Colm Toibin