New York, NY: Doubleday (2007)

First Edition. Signed.

Fine in dust jacket.

In the middle of a dusty Southern town, in the middle of the twentieth century, magician Henry Walker entertains crowds at Jeremiah Musgrove's Chinese Circus. Though not the world-famous illusionist he once was, Henry, with his dark skin and green eyes, is still something of a novelty to the patrons who pay a dime to see his show. Most of the patrons, anyway.

As the novel begins, one May night in 1954, Henry is confronted by three menacing white teens, and soon thereafter disappears. With his fate uncertain, his friends from the circus - Jenny the Ossified Girl, Rudy the Strong Man, and JJ the Barker - piece together what they know of Henry's mysterious and extraordinary life. The result is an adventure that begins when ten-year old Henry meets the devil, who gives him the gift of illusion and then steals the one thing that means the most to him. As Henry's friends recount the remarkable adventures and incredible heartache that result from this childhood encounter, only one thing seems certain about Henry's life: nothing is as it appears.