Liz Hyder
Liz Hyder is a writer of true courage.
The Illusions
At a time of extraordinary change, two women must harness their talents to take control of their own destiny...
Bristol, 1896. Used to scraping a living as the young assistant to an ageing con artist, Cecily Marsden's life is turned upside down when her master suddenly dies. Believing herself to blame, could young Cec somehow have powers she little understands?
Meanwhile Eadie Carleton, a pioneering early film-maker, struggles for her talent to be taken seriously in a male-dominated world, and a brilliant young magician, George Perris, begins to see the potential in moving pictures. George believes that if he can harness this new technology, it will revolutionise the world of magic forever — but in order to achieve his dreams, he must first win over Miss Carleton...
As a group of illusionists prepare for a grand spectacle, Cec, Eadie and George's worlds collide. But as Cec falls in love with the bustling realm of theatre and magic, she faces the fight of her life to save the performance from sabotage and harness the element of real magic held deep within her.
The Illusions is the captivating new novel from the much-lauded author of The Gifts. Inspired by real-life illusionists and early film pioneers, this astonishing story of women and talent, magic and power, sweeps you into a world where anything is possible and nothing is quite as it seems...
The Illusions was published in UK hardback in June 2023.
The Gifts
She gasps for air. Newly-formed impossible wings dig hard into her back as she looks up at the canopy of trees. Papery leaves whirl down towards her in a cascade of colour. Remnants of the summer past. It reminds her of something and she grasps for the memory deep in the labyrinth of her mind. The tiny motes of dust trapped in the sunbeams of her father's library from when she was a child. Patterns in the air. Angel dust, he used to call it. Angel dust.
Set in 1840, The Gifts opens with a young woman in agony, staggering alone through a forest in Shropshire as a huge pair of wings rip from her shoulders. Meanwhile, when rumours of a 'fallen angel' cause a frenzy across London, a surgeon desperate for fame and fortune finds himself in the grips of a dangerous obsession, one that will place the women he seeks in the most terrible danger...
Liz Hyder's debut adult novel, The Gifts was published in UK hardback, audio and eBook in February 2022. The UK paperback was published in September 2022. In April 2023, The Gifts was published in the US.
Runner-up for the 2023 McKitterick Prize.
About Liz
Liz Hyder is a writer, creative workshop leader and arts PR Consultant. Bearmouth, her debut for Young Adults, won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for Older Readers, the Branford Boase Award and was named Children’s Book of the Year in The Times. The Gifts, her debut book for grown-ups, is out in February 2022.
Liz is available for interviews, features, events and creative writing workshops.
Read more about LizBooks
Find out more about Liz’s novels — The Illusions, The Gifts and Bearmouth — and the inspiration behind them.
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