"It is not difficult to convince people who have recently suffered bereavement of the possibility of communicating with their loved ones. To me, the poor suffering followers, eagerly searching for relief from the heart-pain that follows the passing on of a dear one, are a sacrifice to the scavengers who make money from them..."
Anna Van Housen and her mother are performers. Anna does magic, her mother is a medium. They are charlatans...at least one of them is. Anna's mother claims she is the illegitimate daughter of Harry Houdini, which is where she gets her talent for illusions, and possibly her talents of communicating with the dead, reading emotions, and visions of the future.
The pair seem to have finally gone legit. Their new agent gives them an apartment, a real home. Anna doesn't have to worry about hoarding money or breaking her mother out of prison. She could almost be content, if not for a recurring nightmare. Both she and her mother are in danger, but Anna doesn't know who to fear.
I loved the historical aspects to this book. Anna also has to deal with a society for paranormal research, which was based on one founded by Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle. The 1920s seems like such an exciting time, at least the speakeasies and vaudeville shows depicted in this book sound exciting. The book gave great descriptions of how Anna did her magic, which was really interesting. This is supposed to be the first in a series, linked by the society depicted in the book. I'm interested to see if we continue to follow Anna or if there are new characters in the next book, also how the story might change through the years. It's definitely intriguing.
I received my copy of Born of Illusion from Edelweiss, courtesy of Balzer & Bray. It's available for purchase now.
No comments:
Post a Comment