As If by Magic
A son embarks on a journey involving a disappearing suitcase, secret police, and a strange letter, while pursuing a father who appears to have fallen victim to Alzheimer’s disease. A man inherits a deserted island and is drawn into the mysterious, possibly deadly affairs of a strange couple on a sailboat. A gold miner in a remote Amazon outpost escapes from a murderous foreman by building an improbable machine. A writer chases the evasive opening sentence of his novel while locked down in his Rio de Janeiro apartment with his wife, until she usurps the narrative.
In the four tales that comprise As If by Magic, Edgard Telles Ribeiro invites us into labyrinthine worlds where what we perceive is only the beginning of the story.
As If by Magic includes the Jabuti Prize finalist novella, “The Magic Eye,” translated from the Portuguese by Kim M. Hastings and three stories—“Remains from the Fair,” “Albatross,” and “Turn of the River”—translated from the Portuguese by Margaret A. Neves.
Ebook
- ISBN
- 9781954276512
Paperback
- ISBN
- 9781954276505
Brazilian writer Edgard Telles Ribeiro is the author of fourteen works of fiction including The Impostor and As If by Magic (forthcoming from Bellevue Literary Press in January 2026). He studied cinema at University of California, Los Angeles, worked as a film critic for several newspapers before becoming a career diplomat, and has received Brazil’s most prestigious literary prizes, including the Jabuti Prize, Brazilian Academy of Letters Prize, and Brazilian PEN Club Prize. He lives in New York and Rio de Janeiro.
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