Magician

Releasing May 19, 2026

First, he is a Boy, born to a Mother who cannot abide his existence. Despite her torments, the Boy finds a way to survive, to create a small space for himself in the world. When he escapes, a beguiling circus troupe welcomes him into their family and the Boy begins to imagine a life beyond survival, one where circus lions roar and enchanted forests spiral far into the distance. He discovers a new, whimsical potential for his magic and eagerly apprentices under the circus’s conjurer—only to realize his gifts far outstrip his mentor’s. As the Boy’s ambition takes control of his magic, he becomes the Magician, but at a cost. Faced with dark magic’s damaging potential, what once saved the Magician becomes the power that isolates and makes him vulnerable. And, looming is a primal threat, determined to end the Magician, his magic, and all he holds dear, forever.

Featuring lyrical, songlike language unlike any other novel, the haunting prose sets the rhythm for an epic journey from a childhood of pain towards a reclamation of power and peace. The Boy is born into a brutal childhood filled with unspeakable cruelties; the Boy only survives through a powerful magic that intervenes in moments of need; and as he journeys toward the Magician he is meant to be, he discovers the power of community, friendship, and love. 

With the fairytale cadence of Helen Oyeyemi and Gerardo Sámano Córdova’s disquieting excavation of grief and trauma, Tracy Lynne Oliver’s Magician lures readers into a spellbinding world of twisted patriarchal darkness and a powerful magic that threatens to consume everyone, including its wielder.

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