Born of Illusion by Teri Brown (review)
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Born of Illusion by Teri Brown
Given the spiritualist fervor that has taken hold of 1920s New York City, it's the perfect place for Anna Van Housen, an amateur magician, and her mother, a renowned (but fake) medium, to finally make a decent living in one place, leaving their nomadic existence with freak shows and circuses behind them. Unfortunately, the recent efforts of Harry Houdini (who may or may not be Anna's father) to systematically unmask charlatans will likely destroy their show. Anna is also struggling to continue to hide her true gifts—her ability to speak with the dead and to see the future—from her manipulative mother, a task that gets more difficult as her powers become increasingly unwieldy, especially in the presence of Cole, their handsome new neighbor. Another dapper fella turns up to complete the love triangle, but Anna's visions of a violent and waterlogged death for herself and her mother have her understandably distracted. This lacks the scope of Bray's similarly themed The Diviners (BCCB 10/12), and the historical setting is more sketched than detailed, mostly focusing on the various hairstyles and fashions of the times. Anna's a likable narrator, though, and she's at her best when she's either sparring with her mother or creating the latest illusion for her magician's act. Both the [End Page 500] romance and the mystery behind Anna's visions are fairly predictable, so it's really Anna's hostile but fascinating relationship with her mother that makes her story compelling. Anna's encounters with the benevolent Houdini provide a nice counterpoint to the toxicity of her dealings with her mother and also serve to showcase Anna's talents as an illusionist, giving readers a few tips on sleight of hand as an additional takeaway.
