Here We Are

Listed in the Theater category on Art In Fiction, Here We Are (2020) by Graham Swift touches depths and evokes wonders--not least because its central theme is magic.   In the summer of 1959, at the pier theatre in Brighton, England, a variety show unfurls every night, held together by Jack Robinson, its master of ceremonies. At 28, already a veteran of the stage, he introduces the performers with some showmanship of his own, and he knows how to send the audience home happy. But the true stars of the evening are Pablo and Eve. "Pablo" is really Ronnie, a magician who prefers to be called an "illusionist," Jack's friend from army days; "Eve" is Evie, Pablo's "delightful, delicious, delorable" assistant.  Through the summer season, their act shifts from mere stock trickery to truly unfathomable wizardry, with Jack providing the encouragement they need on stage--and the personal entanglement none of them saw coming. As the novel explores the essential experiences of their lives--apart and together, past and present and deep into their old age--we understand their enduring inseparability, bound together by a mix of truth and deception to which they all contribute. “A jewel of a novel . . . Saturated with images and metaphors that recur like melodies . . . Swift’s brief, magical tale demonstrates one more brilliant example of his talent for pulling universal themes out of the hats of ordinary lives.” — Publishers Weekly (starred) Graham Swift was born in 1949 and is the author of ten novels, two collections of short stories, including the highly acclaimed  England and Other Stories , and of Making an Elephant , a book of essays, portraits, poetry and reflections on his life in writing. His novel Mothering Sunday became an international bestseller and won The Hawthornden Prize for best work of imaginative literature. With Waterland  he won the Guardian Fiction Prize, and with Last Orders the Booker Prize. Both novels were made into films. His work has appeared in over thirty languages. Buy Now from Amazon Buy Now from Bookshop