This is an odd, hard to define, impossible to put down book, first published in 1995, but out in a new paperback edition. The reason I’m bringing it to your attention is primarily due to news of an upcoming film: Christopher Nolan, director of Batman Begins and one of my personal favorites, Memento, will begin shooting an adaptation of The Prestige this month. Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman will star as two rival magicians in turn-of-the-century London whose most famous illusions become both a blessing and a curse to each of them.
This is exciting news. As far as I’m concerned, a film couldn’t have a more promising pedigree, regardless of the source material. Luckily, that material in this case is fertile ground. Christopher Priest weaves a curious but incredibly compelling tale. Technically, The Prestige is a work of fantasy, but it takes much of the book for that to become clear, and not in the way you would expect.
Rupert Angier and Alfred Borden are two of the greatest stage magicians of the Victorian age, each rising to fame based on the strength of their greatest illusions: Borden’s New Transported Man and Angier’s In a Flash. Each trick purports to transport the magician instantaneously from one point to another, but it takes much of the book to figure out which illusionidy is pulling off the more impressive feat—are these illusions at all? Their bitter rivalry begins when a young Borden attempts to expose Angier as a spiritualist fraud, and continues throughout their professional lives.
It’s a gripping and unusual story, with a slam-bangingly weird ending that will translate beautifully (and chillingly) to the screen. Grab a copy of The Prestige before Christopher Nolan goes and takes all the fun out of envisioning the story for yourself.
The Prestige by Christopher Priest
Publisher : Tor (new paperback edition, November 29, 2005)
Paperback : 368 pages
ISBN-10 : 0312858868
ISBN-13 : 978-0312858865
Genre: Victorian fantasy
