The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic

Emily Croy Barker

avg, 2013 · Penguin UK

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Emily Croy Barker's The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic is full of romance, adventure and, of course, magic...

'Fun, seductive, and utterly engrossing' Deborah Harkness, author of The Discovery of Witches

'A wholly imaginative and witty debut novel that is unlike any I've read' Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants

Nora's life is not quite going as planned. Her career has stalled; the man of her dreams is getting married, but not to her; and there's a mouse in her kitchen... Getting away for the weekend for a friend's wedding seems like perfect timing, especially when she stumbles across the unfeasibly glamorous Ilissa, who is determined to take Nora under her wing.

Through Ilissa, Nora is introduced to a whole new world - a world of unbelievable decadence and riches where time is meaningless and everyone is beautiful. And Nora herself feels different: more attractive; more talented; more popular... Yet something doesn't quite ring true: was she really talking to Oscar Wilde at Ilissa's party last night? Or transported from New York to Paris in the blink of an eye?

It is only when Ilissa's son, Raclin, asks Nora to marry him that the truth about her new friends becomes apparent. By then, though, it's too late, and Nora realises she may never be able to return to the world, and the life, she knew before.

If she is to escape Raclin and Ilissa's clutches, her only hope is the magician Aruendiel. A grim, reclusive figure with a biting tongue and a shrouded past, he might just teach her what she needs to survive and perhaps even make it home: the art of real magic.

For fans of Deborah Harkness's All Souls Trilogy and Lev Grossman's Magicians series, The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker is proof that magic not only exists but - like love - can sweep you off your feet when you least expect it...

Emily Croy Barker lives in New Jersey. This is her first novel.

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Emily Croy Barker spent almost twenty years as a journalist. A graduate of Harvard University, she is currently the executive editor at The American Lawyer magazine, where she oversees international coverage. She lives in New Jersey. The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic is her first novel.