An elegantly-turned tale of illusion and reality in north Africa in the 1850s as Henri Lambert, the most famous magician in all Europe, is despatched by Emperor Napoleon III to prove to the natives that a Christian Frenchman can perform even more astonishing miracles than their own holy men. As usual with Brian Moore, the deceptively simple story contains subtle moral dilemmas and a serious moral purpose - but before you get that far you will have been seduced, like the magician's eponymous spouse, by the blue skies and whitewashed houses, the fountains and orange trees and soft breezes of colonial Algeria. It will work a bit of magic for you, too, for it's the perfect way to escape from the dreary, dark days of December.
By Arminta Wallace