The Illusionist (Johnston novel)

The Illusionist

First edition
Author	Jennifer Johnston
Country	Ireland
Language	English
Publisher	Sinclair Stevenson
Publication date	1995
Media type	Print
Pages	208
ISBN	1-85619-755-7

The Illusionist, published in 1995, is a novel by Irish author Jennifer Johnston, and considered one of her best works.^[1] It gained positive reviews in The Irish Times, Times Literary Supplement and the New Statesman.^[2]

Premise[]

The story consists of two interlinked narratives. In the first, set in Dublin, 58-year-old Stella Glover meets with her daughter Robin after the funeral of her estranged husband Martyn, and seeks reconciliation with her. The other narrative consists of flashbacks to her past life in London; her first meeting with Martyn who describes himself as an 'illusionist', their marriage, the birth of Robin, and Stella's growing frustration with Martyn about whom she knows nothing. He refuses to tell her anything about his family, his past or the nature of his career, he provides her with every luxury but insists she gives him privacy. Eventually Martyn's behaviour becomes increasingly difficult and Stella is forced to leave him and her daughter behind and return to her parents in Dublin. But to Robin, Martyn continues to be the perfect father and she cannot forgive Stella for leaving him...

External links[]

• Magic Tricks: Harriet Paterson reads a jagged tale of marital deceit review from The Independent

References[]

This article about a family saga novel of the 1990s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by . See guidelines for writing about novels. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page.

• v
• t