The Prestige - by Christopher Priest (Paperback)

About the Book

In 1878, two young stage magicians clash in the dark during the course of a fraudulent seance. From that moment on, they vie to outwit and destroy one another. Published in hardcover to international acclaim, "The Prestige" won the World Fantasy Award and Britain's James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Now it finally appears in softcover--sophisticated, breathtaking entertainment.

Book Synopsis

Winner of the World Fantasy Award

Christopher Priest's The Prestige is the inspiration for the movie directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale

In 1878, two young stage magicians clash in the dark during the course of a fraudulent séance. From this moment on, their lives become webs of deceit and revelation as they vie to outwit and expose one another.

Their rivalry will take them to the peaks of their careers, but with terrible consequences. In the course of pursuing each other's ruin, they will deploy all the deception their magicians' craft can command--the highest misdirection and the darkest science.

Blood will be spilled, but it will not be enough. In the end, their legacy will pass on for generations...to descendants who must, for their sanity's sake, untangle the puzzle left to them.

Review Quotes

"A brilliant conjuring act by one of the master illusionists of our time." --Wired on The Prestige

"One of our most gifted writers." --John Fowles on The Prestige

"Extraordinary--like a dazzling magic act!" --Entertainment Weekly on The Prestige

"A dizzying show of a novel....Imagine Possession rewritten by Barbara Vine, or Robertson Davies at his most smoothly diabolical. A brilliantly constructed entertainment!" --The Washington Post on The Prestige

"As ingenious as it is suspenseful." --Newsday on The Prestige

"Nothing quite prepares you for the sinister complexity and imaginative flair of The Prestige . . . Magnificently eerie." --Anthony Quinn, The Sunday Times

"Beautifully written . . . Two magicians vie with each other to create the perfect illusion: vanishing from one part of the stage and reappearing instantaneously in another. It's a story of utter fakery and scientific audacity. The pioneer of electrical power, Nikola Tesla, appears in a supporting role; to say more would reveal too much. Priest masters the merging of SF and mainstream, and The Prestige is his finest novel to date." --New Scientist on The Prestige

"A taut, twisting, prize-winning story of two magicians and their fierce fin-de-siècle rivalry that taints successive generations of their respective families...An unexpectedly compelling fusion of weird science and legerdemain." --Kirkus on The Prestige

"Remarkably akin to the style of the late Robertson Davies...Priest has brought it off with great imagination and skill." --Publishers Weekly on The Prestige

"Hypnotic...The Prestige provides the satisfaction of an ambitious and well-told entertainment." --San Francisco Chronicle

"The Prestige is in every way a marvelously scary entertainment with one of the creepiest final revelations in recednt years. Don't miss the magic show!" --Gahan Wilson, Realms of Fantasy

"Just as a magic act should be: filled with haunting marvels." --Time Out London on The Prestige

About the Author

Christopher Priest (1943 - 2024) was the critically-acclaimed author of the 1995 World Fantasy Award-winning novel, The Prestige (whose 2006 film adaptation of the same namesake went on to be a two-time Academy Award nominated box office hit). Born in Cheshire, England, Priest spent most of his life as a full-time freelance writer. He lived on the Isle of Bute, in west Scotland.