The Prestige

The Prestige

by Christopher Priest (Author)

Synopsis

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, they 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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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 368
Edition: Film tie-in e.
Publisher: Gollancz
Published: 08 Nov 2006

ISBN 10: 0575079061
ISBN 13: 9780575079069
Book Overview: THE PRESTIGE is being filmed by the Nolan Brothers (MEMENTO; BATMAN BEGINS) The film will star David Bowie as Nikolai Tesla, and High Jackman and Christian Bale as the rival magicians. Michael Caine will play an older magician who passes on some of his secrets 'It will be compelling' Christopher Nolan THE PRESTIGE is unique in winning both a major literary prize (the James Tait Black Award) and a major genre prize (The World Fantasy Award) 'The Prestige is a brilliantly constructed entertainment, with a plot as simple and intricate as a nest of Chinese boxes ... a dizzying magic show of a novel, chock-a-block with all the props of Victorian sensation fiction' WASHINGTON POST 'Priest's mesmeric power is formidable' THE INDEPENDENT 'A taut, twisting, prize-winning story of two magicians and their fin-de-siecle rivalry that taints successive generations of their respective families ... an unexpectedly compelling fusion of weird science and legerdemain' KIRKUS

Media Reviews
The exhilarating zip of the plot, sweeping you along to a conclusion that is thoroughly unexpected. A case study in sleight-of-hand on several levels. -- Helen O'Hara EMPIRE A narrative full of twists, turns and revelations. Behind all the surface trickery lies an intelligent and thoughtful novel about the nature of illusion and secrecy. OBSERVER
Author Bio
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.