The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia

Enchanted by Narnia's fantastic world as a child, prominent critic Laura Miller returns to the series as an adult to uncover the source of these small books' mysterious power by looking at their creator, Clive Staples Lewis.

What she discovers is not the familiar, idealized image of the author, but a more interesting and ambiguous truth: Lewis's tragic and troubled childhood, his unconventional love life, and his intense but ultimately doomed friendship with J.R.R. Tolkien.

Finally reclaiming Narnia "for the rest of us," Miller casts the Chronicles as a profoundly literary creation, and the portal to a lifelong adventure in books, art, and the imagination.

Author: Laura Miller
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Published: 12/02/2009
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 8.10h x 5.40w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780316017657

Review Citation(s):
New York Times Book Review 12/06/2009 pg. 60
New Yorker (The) 12/14/2009 pg. 85

About the Author
Laura Miller is a journalist and critic. She is a cofounder of Salon.com, where she is currently a staff writer, and is the editor of The Salon.com Readers Guide to Contemporary Authors. A regular contributor to the New York Times Book Review, her work has also appeared in the New Yorker, the Los Angeles Times, Time, and other publications. She lives in New York.