The recently-deceased Lloyd Alexander, of the Chronicles of Prydain fame, was actually an American author. I’d always assumed he was British, but he was from Pennsylvania and was born just before the Great Depression. He wrote dozens of books, mostly children’s and YA fantasy. The Chronicles of Prydain were vaguely based on Welsh mythology; many of his books contain elements of mythology from the British Isles, which is probably what led me to believe he was English. In any case, he published novels until his death (two weeks after his wife passed away); this novel was from 2002.

Lidi is a magician, of the stage and sleight-of-hand variety. Her father was, too; he taught her the majority of what she knows. However, he told her she would never be a real magician until she knew the Rope Trick, and there was only one man in the world who could teach it to her: Ferramondo. While she is searching for him, though, Lidi has been traveling as a show; her stage manager is a man named Jericho, and they travel in a wagon. After an aborted show in an inn, a small girl follows Lidi home. Her name is Daniella, and she wants to join Lidi and get away from the abusive innkeeper. Shortly after Daniella (who proves to be a savant about numbers and even mild future-telling) joins the troop, a man on the run named Julian joins as well. Can Lidi find Ferramondo and keep Daniella and Julian safe?

I love books about stage magicians/sleight-of-hand experts. Mr. Alexander gives just enough details that we know what Lidi is doing, but he doesn’t ruin the surprise of every magician’s trick for us. Yes, I’m certain one could read the book carefully and figure out how to do certain magic tricks, but he also makes sure that we know that a great portion of doing the trick is making the audience believe in it. Lidi, of course, is an expert in that; her hands are described as ‘beautiful’, and mostly because they are incredibly expressive. She also never forgets to smile while she is performing her tricks.

Daniella is probably my favorite character; she refers to herself as the “Added Attraction”. She can, in many limited cases, see into the future, but when she doesn’t know what to say (or cannot see anything), she gives a pat answer that she came up with herself, about traveling and coming into money. It’s impressive, how many people that simple formula can apply to. She serves as an enigma, in many ways; the abusive innkeeper doesn’t even think she can speak. In other ways, though, she’s humor. When hearing about Julian’s violent past, Lidi says Daniella should not be hearing that story. Daniella remarks that she doesn’t mind; she used to live in a bag. Her matter-of-fact statements, including this one, often made me laugh.

I hadn’t read any Lloyd Alexander for years, and I’d forgotten how delightful he can be. The plot is basically just a search, but the characters and their interactions make the story. Other than the ones I mentioned above, we also have acrobat pigs, an evil moneylending sort, a very thin contorting man who pops his joints out, and Ferramondo himself — but mostly through other people’s stories. The book is written in a timeless sort of style, and I think it will hold up to many generations of rereading. Mr. Alexander was just as much at the top of his game, five years before his death, as he had ever been. 5/5 stars.