Harry Houdini’s one-time apprentice holds fantastic secrets about the greatest illusionist in the world. But someone wants to claim them . . . or silence her before she can reveal them on her own.Boston, 1926. Jenny “Wren” Lockhart is a bold eccentric–even for a female vaudevillian. As notorious for her inherited wealth and gentleman’s dress as she is for her unsavory upbringing in the back … the back halls of a vaudeville theater, Wren lives in a world that challenges all manner of conventions.
In the months following Houdini’s death, Wren is drawn into a web of mystery surrounding a spiritualist by the name of Horace Stapleton, a man defamed by Houdini’s ardent debunking of fraudulent mystics in the years leading up to his death. But in a public illusion that goes terribly wrong, one man is dead and another stands charged with his murder. Though he’s known as one of her teacher’s greatest critics, Wren must decide to become the one thing she never wanted to be: Stapleton’s defender.
Forced to team up with the newly formed FBI, Wren races against time and an unknown enemy, all to prove the innocence of a hated man. In a world of illusion, of the vaudeville halls that showcase the flamboyant and the strange, Wren’s carefully constructed world threatens to collapse around her. Layered with mystery, illusion, and the artistry of the Jazz Age’s bygone vaudeville era, The Illusionist’s Apprentice is a journey through love and loss and the underpinnings of faith on each life’s stage.
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Prepare to be amazed by THE ILLUSIONIST’S APPRENTICE. Wren Lockhart, the talented magician at the heart of Kristy Cambron’s spellbinding tale of Jazz Age Boston, is the fierce, brilliant, guarded headliner you’ve been waiting for. This novel will have your pulse pounding and your mind racing to keep up with reversals, betrayals and surprises from the first page to the last. Like her characters, Cambron works magic so compelling and persuasive, she deserves a standing ovation.
BRAVO! I loved this fascinating glimpse into the illusionist word during the vaudeville era. Harry Houdini is such an iconic figure.
The voice of Father whispers gently amongst the pages to lean into His heart in the midst of harsh circumstances. He is always waiting with open arms.
Recommend to readers who enjoy inspirational, historical fiction with a dash of mystery.
I purchased a copy. All views expressed are my honest opinion.
“The Illusionist’s Apprentice” is a magical page turner that captivates with an atmospheric setting and complex characters. I was intrigued by chapter one (such a GREAT opening!) and entranced until the end.
As always, Kristy Cambron’s attention to historical detail is superb! The main story takes place in the late 1920’s, while some flashbacks scenes depict the early 1900’s. I especially enjoyed the scenes featuring Harry Houdini and his fascinating, vaudeville world.
A good book that starts out slow and finishes with a bang!
I enjoyed the story, love this author!
Kristy Cambron doesn’t write like anyone else I know in the historical fiction genre. Her stories and words flow like a song. They move and flow with the characters. Cambron doesn’t force the story; the story appears to just cascade from her heart. With her newest release The Illusionist’s Apprentice, I still feel the same way. I really love the story and the cover is one of my favorite covers in a long time.
Like always, Cambron uses dual timelines to tell her story. We start out with 1927, which is present day for the characters, but there are have flashbacks to 1916, 1924, and 1907. The first flashback doesn’t occur until chapter six, so for the first couple of chapters, Cambron is setting up the mystery that she wants the entire novel to center around. The flashbacks bring the attention of what she wants us to know about Wren’s past. For instance, her relationship with her uncle and mother. Plus, how she met Houdini, Irina, and Amberley. Her writing is concise and clear. It flows smoothly with the research about the power of illusion versus the power of magic. The story sings with the illusion of a great story.
While the flashbacks are important, the characters make the story. For Wren, the heroine, she is a witty and confident woman who adorns numerous masks, not allowing anyone to truly see inside and know her past or the lady she has become. Wren has kept her illusionist job to guard her heart and her life. In walks Elliot Matthews, the hero, who is a FBI officer for the Boston Bureau. He is a closed book too. There isn’t much to learn about him for a long time. Cambron doesn’t allow him to open up either. We learn more about Wren than him. Wren and Elliott mutually agree to solve the murder of Victor Peale without exposing illusionists. Their relationship starts out a little rough, but then as they spend more time together, trying to solve what happens, both sides aloud their walls to crumble and allow the other one inside to their darkest secrets. Cambron is a wonderful master at using illustrations in the story to signal the numerous metaphors like Wren allowing Elliot to come into her hidden garden behind the walled library when she has finally learned to trust him and wants to explore her feelings for him.
While the story is original and unpredictable, the mystery could have used a little work; I wanted more. This was Cambron’s first attempt at including a mystery in her historical novel and while the ending read like a mystery, the moments leading up to the big climatic moment read like a more historical novel with something hiding in the background. For instance, when bullets are flying, the target doesn’t run away instantly and is taken to safety where it isn’t a concern anymore. When someone is in a questioning room and someone shoves a note under the door saying run and the character is standing out a ledge outside the window, don’t stop and have a conversation before running to safety. To me, it seemed like Cambron wanted a mystery, but she didn’t push the limits as far as a mystery will allow her. She isn’t the only historical writer to do this. Every historical writer that I have read that promises a mystery doesn’t deliver what I’m hoping the story is. But . . . the story does move at a nice pace and has a nice mystery ending to it.
Even though the mystery was a little off for me, I did enjoy The Illusionist’s Apprentice with its unique storyline and wonderful characters. Kristy Cambron wove together a tale about Houdini’s apprentice, inviting me into a timeless mystery about betrayal and living a life without pretending. I highly recommend this book to fans of Cambron and of Jazz Age stories.
I received a complimentary copy of Kristy Cambron’s The Illusionist’s Apprentice from Thomas Nelson Publishing, and the opinions stated are all my own.
It was a total mystery to the very end. Totally different subject and time period from most historical fiction that I’ve read.
I received a copy of this book from The Fiction Guild. I was not required to give a favorable review. All thoughts are my own. This was an interesting story about the side of a time when vaudville was still the place people went to for entertainment. Wren came from England after the loss of her mother and having to take care of her little sister. Her uncle left her a theatre in Boston and she learned how to hone her skills under Houdini. She has been seen by two FBI agents who saw her at a graveside trick that went bad by another person. She is asked to show how it all went wrong, but in the process she was finally going to have to let someone get close to her. She hadn’t done that since her uncle passed. Does finding the bad guys, getting things better with an old enemy and finding love.
Kristy Cambron is a remarkable author with a unique voice. Ever since her debut novel The Butterfly and the Violin (2014), I’ve impatiently awaited each subsequent release. While I was initially intrigued by the synopsis of The Illusionist‘s Apprentice, I questioned how Harry Houdini and magic would play out in a Christian novel. With Cambron at the keys…the answer is impeccably well!
It’s important to begin by stating the author draws a clear line between mysticism or spiritualists and the art of illusion for the purpose of entertainment. Prior to reading this story I was unaware of how Houdini worked to discredit many such frauds during his lifetime. This bit of history provides a fantastic springboard for Wren’s character, a former apprentice to Houdini, who’s called upon by Agent Elliot Matthews to assist in a suspense-filled investigation of a magic act turned murderous.
As the mystery unraveled, I was irresistibly drawn to these characters and their lives. Particularly Wren, who is so delightfully complex. Over time, glimpses into Wren’s past provide insight as to why she is so guarded, contemplative, and secretive (beyond what her profession would require). The more I learned, the more I championed Elliot’s efforts to breach her defenses. The way their relationship teeters between tenuous and tender keeps readers on their toes.
In reading this story you surrender yourself to Kristy Cambron’s lavish depictions of a bygone era. With it’s clever characters and intricate plot, The Illusionist’s Apprentice has become my second Book Club Top Pick of 2017.
Christian Shelf-Esteem received a book to facilitate this review. The views and opinions expressed are 100% honest and my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255 Guidelines, concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising.