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Type: fiction

Status: —

Authors: Patricia A. McKillip Patricia McKillip

Tags: fantasy mystery supernatural dark poetic

Description: McKillip weaves her own special brand of magic again with a novel about an Italianate cityMcKillip weaves her own special brand of magic again with a novel about an Italianate city haunted by magic and by its shadow-self. The description applies to the characters as well. Haunted by the death of her lover, the late Prince's mistress, Lydia, becomes Mistress Thorn, a shadow of her vibrant self, so that she can stay behind and protect the Prince's young son, who is being reduced to a shadow by the machinations of his cruel and power-hungry aunt, Domina Pearl. The Prince's bastard nephew, Ducon, haunts the palace and the city, both driven to perform and haunted by his mysterious and near-magical ability to draw with charcoals. The shadow city is populated by ghosts, a child-woman that may be human and may be no more than an animated wax doll, and a sorceress whose motives and true face are never visible.

McKillip's prose is mannered by never stiff; at all times it is jewel-like and achieves both humor and true poignancy, and sometimes fleeting moments of wisdom. ...

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Type: fiction

Status: —

Author: Gertrude Stein

Tags: american modernism experimental poetic inspiring