The Magician

The novel by Colm Tóibín begins in a small German town at the beginning of the 1900s. The protagonist, Thomas Mann, is raised by a Brazilian mother who is seductive and erratic, and a traditional father who is constrained by decorum. Young Mann keeps his homosexual impulses hidden from everyone and keeps his creative dreams hidden from his father. He marries Katia, the daughter of one of Munich's wealthiest and most sophisticated Jewish families, after falling in love with them. Six kids are raised by them. He writes the story Death in Venice while on vacation in Italy and is envious of a boy he sees on the beach. He is the most popular author of all time, the recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature, and a well-known figure whose personal life is kept under wraps. He undervalues Hitler, but he is supposed to spearhead the denunciation of the dictator. Leaders of the anti-Nazi movement and Bohemianism, his eldest daughter and son, are lovers. He leaves Germany and travels to Switzerland, France, and then America, where he lives in Princeton and later Los Angeles.

The Magician paints a personal and remarkably nuanced picture of Mann, his lovely and multifaceted wife Katia, and the historical periods they experienced—the First World War, Hitler's ascent to power, World War II, the Cold War, and exile.