There are echoes of H. G. Wells’s The Invisible Man in Priest’s macabre little tale of the rivalry between two 19th-century magicians driven by a desire to pull off the ultimate stage illusion. The novel opens as Andrew Westley, the grandson of one of these men, Alfred Borden, is summoned to a meeting with Kate Angier, whose grandfather Rupert was Borden’s contemporary. Kate shows Andrew a diary, written by Borden and later privately published by Rupert Angier, that describes Borden’s career as a magician and his successive attempts to become the greatest illusionist of his time. Repeatedly thwarted in this aim by Angier, he resolves to sabotage the latter’s show — with terrifying consequences.

The narrative then shifts to Angier himself, and another layer of illusion and subterfuge is introduced. For Angier, it seems, is prepared to risk everything — even his own life — in order to perform his most celebrated trick, in which he appears to transport himself from one place to another in an instant. Only then will he be avenged on Borden, whose incessant meddling has cost him, not only his domestic happiness but also his health.

To reveal more would be to spoil a most ingenious ending. Part horror story, part literary game, The Prestige — now a Hollywood film — precisely captures the mixture of superstition and scientific curiosity that characterised the late Victorian era, and offers the perfect seasonal entertainment.

Redemption
by Kay Langdale Transita, £7.99

Langdale’s accomplished debut takes some unfashionable themes — marriage, mother- hood, loyalty and duty — and considers them in a fresh light, through the medium of six female characters. The first is Sarah, an optician and mother of three, who lives in the West Country with her husband Michael, a solicitor. This is Joanna Trollope territory, and there is something of that author’s bracing good sense and kindness towards her characters in Redemption . For Sarah, contemplating an affair with her best friend’s husband, Harry, marriage has become fraught with risk and possibility.

For Kate, married to Harry, the suspicion that she might be betrayed by him is too painful to bear. She seeks advice from her mother, Isobel — only to find that the latter understands her daughter’s predicament only too well. Other points of view are those of Martha, living on her memories in an old people’s home; Sheila, Sarah’s mother-in-law, whose apparently contented married life is built around a shameful secret; and Judith, whose troubled history is the thread linking all six lives.

The sensitivity with which the author describes her characters’ innermost thoughts is one of the things that makes this book worth reading. The closing chapter, with all the loose ends tied up and marital harmony restored, might be a bit cloying for some tastes. But happiness is always harder to write about than its opposite.

The Adoption
By Dave Hill
Headline Review, £6.99

The tensions of family life are central to Hill’s engaging novel, which begins with the decision by Jane and Darren Ransome, a couple in North London with three children of their own, to adopt a child. Both have reasons beyond mere altruism for wanting to do this: Jane’s being the slightly dubious one of wanting a replacement for the baby she has been unable to conceive; while Darren’s is merely that he wants Jane to be happy. But it is not until three-year-old Jody moves in with them for a trial period that the enormity of their decision hits home.

Suddenly, each member of the family, from moody 15-year-old Lorna to hyperactive Clyde, aged 7, has to confront the changed situation. Predictably, Lorna gets moodier and Clyde more uncontrollable, as each is made to realise that they no longer have exclusive claims on their parents’ attention. Even good middle-child Eliot becomes worryingly evasive. To make matters worse, Ashleigh, Jody’s birth mother, has taken to hanging around the Ransome’s neighbourhood, and both fear that she may go back on her decision to give the child into their care. Things resolve themselves eventually, but it is by no means a foregone conclusion, and The Adoption is full of agonisingly funny moments, when it seems as if Jane and Darren have bitten off more than they can chew.

These setbacks serve to reinforce the realism of the story, so that by the end one is completely won over by the central characters and their endeavour.

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