Book Review: "The Illusions" by Liz Hyder

I like to read historical fiction now and again, in fact my favourite modern author is Philippa Gregory and I have read everything she has written to this day. There is something about historical fiction that takes you away from your own time, but does not read like a textbook or as if it is trying to prove something to you. Instead, often written in a first person narrative, it is bringing life to people we can no longer communicate with. We can interview and ask questions to the past and receive answers. The importance is not in whether these answers or conversations portray any realities but rather it is about how the answers and conversations shape the story we are getting immersed in. Do these characters provide us with ample space to keep asking questions, keep the conversation with the past going and do we feel invested in them even though we know they are long dead? I have to say that for The Illusions by Liz Hyder, the answer is definitely yes.

Set in 1896 and starting off in Bristol, a sixteen-year-old girl named "Cec" (Cecily) is the assisstant to a con-artist. When her master weirdly and suddenly dies, Cec is forced into a world of desperation and is fully convinced that she is to blame for what happened to him. As we wade through all of this, we start to witness Cecily dealing with powers she cannot fully comprehend. Powers that belong to her and her alone.

With her father in his grave and her brother who is missing, Eadie owns the studio that was once in her family's line. The female inventor and strong-willed spirit is desperate to start her rise to fame in the world of the new and exciting world of motion picture filming. But, struggling to be heard among all the men that are trying to hold her down, she only treads harder on top of them to climb to the top.

Meanwhile, George is trying his hand at magic and though he has talent, the twenty-six-year-old does not have the money to make his dream come to life. He sees what was once called a 'living picture' and is convinced that this is the next step that magic is going to take and wants to get his own magic involved with this new one that is developing fast.

At the heart of it, Valentin has had a fight with another magician and sets out to England where he ultimately must be in charge of a show with a youngster. Things don't bode well for Valentin and challenges mean that he must make this new Bristol-based career work or else.

I am a huge film fan and so, I loved the whole historical viewpoint that this book took on the film industry and when it was starting off. There were so many discussions and descriptions linked to the way the cinematic industry was just beginning and more than often, the reactions of the people who saw these 'living pictures' was just incredible. It is truly an enchanting world of mechanics, invention and innovative storytelling.

I was first sceptical about the multiple points of view that narrative was going to take. But, Liz Hyder fashions it in the most incredible style, giving everything and everyone its own voice so that the reader does not get confused in any way. Another thing I liked about this is that it ties the narrative together nicely. Things that happen in one narrative link to another but they are not always even in the same space, or in the same country, some of the characters may not even yet know each other - but the reader can see the links from the very beginning. She definitely knows that there needs to be differences for the reader to differentiate the storylines, but there also needs to be similarities so that the reader can link them together too.

All in all, I think this is an excellently written book with an ample amount of description and atmosphere to delve into alongside the beautiful storyline of the beggining of the movie industry. I hope to read more like this soon - I have had a lot of fun with it.