The Illusions set in London – Liz Hyder

Submitted: 21st June 2023

Who wants to feel a novel, feel the anticipation of a stage performance, a magical illusion and go back in time to when the art of moving pictures was becoming something else? This is a rich and vividly evoked novel with hope and the human heart at its core. I loved it and am escited to see Bristol get such a key role in a story where photography and magic is key.

BookTrail Travel to The Illusions

Boarding Pass Information: Bristol

Author guide: Liz Hyder

Genre: historical

Food and drink to accompany: nothing, you will be too enchanted by the story

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BookTrail Travel to The Illusionst

Oh this novel! What can I say? Just that it’s wonderful and magical in every way. It’s also set at a time and in a city noted for its importance in the photography world and in the development of the moving pictures of the time. Bristol doesn’t get the recognition it deserves in the real life story so Liz has transported her fictionalised version of it here. Round of applause for that!

Where do I start with this review? It’s a story of photography and magic, illusions and the moving pictures meeting in the most inventive of ways. It’s the story of two women, at the centre of this epic time in history

Cecily Marsden is 16 years old and a conman’s assistant. Eadie Carlton is skilled in the art of photography and the moving pictures. Then we have George Perris, a magician renowed by his peers. When these three people meet, their paths cross and we have all sorts of mysterious things going on!

And wait until you hear about The Great Valentini !

Oh this was magical. The way the author wove a story about the invention of the motion picture and advances in magic was …well…magical.

This is an ode to both of those disciplines, an ode to magic and photography everywhere and the people behind them both who have created what we have today. It’s wonderful to be able to go back in time and see how people reacted to magic, illusions and what moving pictures brought to their lives. Imagine a time before moving pictures and then realising what the technology could do? The same with magic?

This is theatrical and magical, a wonderment of a novel that screams out a need to be on the big . screen. I could see the scenes, the characters, costumes and wonderful setting of Bristol in all its 1890s glory. Imagine the music! The dramatic flourishes….the illusions of all illusions.

LOVED IT. Go on, get this and really treat yourself!