Staff Book and Media Recommendations

Jean Longo is a Research & Learning Librarian at the University of Central Oklahoma.

The Magician’s Assistant

Ann Patchett

After the death of her husband, Parsifal, Sabine begins to unravel the mystery surrounding his life.  Parsifal was a handsome and charming magician and Sabine was his faithful assistant for twenty years.  He was gay and after the death of his partner, Phan, he marries Sabine to ensure her security in the event of his death.  They share a bond of friendship and Sabine thought she knew everything about him.  She is mourning the man she loved living a lonely life in the mansion that belonged to Phan; her only companion is the rabbit that was an essential prop in Parsifal’s act.

His lawyer arrives to tell her that his name is actually Guy Fetters and everything she knew about him is actually untrue.  He was not from New England and his parents and siblings did not die in a car crash.  The lawyer has a letter requesting that his mother and sisters be provided for after his death.   So his mother and sister come from Nebraska to meet Sabine, visit Parsifal’s grave and see the city of Los Angeles.  They come from two different worlds and knew two different versions of the same person.  Patchett melds the past and present together with great agility.  Parsifal’s family comes to center stage, mother, sister and adolescent nephew to help Sabine see why he would need to reinvent himself.

Reviewed March 2013