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Summary
Summary
It's magic! The great American storyteller Lloyd Alexander conjures an engrossing tale of a bewitching magician. Lidi is not only beautiful-she has the talent to perform the greatest magic feat imaginable-the rope trick. But she must find the one master who can teach her how.
On her quest to find master magician Ferramondo, she meets some traveling companions who all help on the journey: a child with true supernatural powers, a handsome outlaw with a price on his head, a successful entrepreneur who wants her in his troupe. But when the child is kidnapped, Lidi must abandon the search and summon her own powers to save the girl. The thrilling conclusion is Alexander at the top of his form in a remarkable fantasy that is both light and dark, funny and serious, believable and mystical. As always with an Alexander novel, the real magician is the storyteller himself.
Author Notes
Lloyd Alexander, January 30, 1924 - May 17, 2007 Born Lloyd Chudley Alexander on January 30, 1924, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Allan Audley and Edna Chudley Alexander, Lloyd knew from a young age that he wanted to write. He was reading by the time he was 3, and though he did poorly in school, at the age of fifteen, he announced that he wanted to become a writer. At the age of 19 in 1942, Alexander dropped out of the West Chester State Teachers College in Pennsylvania after only one term. In 1943, he attended Lafayette College in Easton, PA, before dropping out again and joining the United States Army during World War II. Alexander served in the Intelligence Department, stationed in Wales, and then went on to Counter-Intelligence in Paris, where he was promoted to Staff Sergeant. When the war ended in '45, Alexander applied to the Sorbonne, but returned to the States in '46, now married.
Alexander worked as an unpublished writer for seven years, accepting positions such as cartoonist, advertising copywriter, layout artist, and associate editor for a small magazine. Directly after the war, he had translated works for such artists as Jean Paul Sartre. In 1955, "And Let the Credit Go" was published, Alexander's first book which led to 10 years of writing for an adult audience. He wrote his first children's book in 1963, entitled "Time Cat," which led to a long career of writing for children and young adults.
Alexander is best known for his "Prydain Chronicles" which consist of "The Book of Three" in 1964, "The Black Cauldron" in 1965 which was a Newbery Honor Book, as well as an animated motion picture by Disney which appeared in 1985, "The Castle of Llyr" in 1966, "Taran Wanderer" in 1967, a School Library Journal's Best Book of the Year and "The High King" which won the Newberry Award. Many of his other books have also received awards, such as "The Fortune Tellers," which was a Boston Globe Horn Book Award winner. In 1986, Alexander won the Regina Medal for Lifetime Achievement from the Catholic Library Association. His titles have been translated into many languages including, Dutch, Spanish, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Serbo-Croation and Swedish.
He died on May 17, 2007.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-7-Ever a wizard with words, Alexander imbues this tale of a young magician on a quest with whiffs of mystery-though he concludes with an abrupt bit of literary legerdemain that reads as if he ran out of steam. Impelled by the failures of her father, copper-tressed Lidi is determined to become the greatest of magicians, which means tracking down elusive master magician, Ferramondo, and persuading him to part with the secret of his fabled Rope Trick. The search takes Lidi, along with her hulking, fatherly roustabout Jericho; Daniella, a small child who seems to have a real ability to foretell the future; and Julian, a fugitive cafone (tenant farmer), wandering through several provinces of Italy, er, "Campania," before falling afoul of a ruthless moneylender, Scabbia. The author relates his tale economically (a blessing in these days of doorstopper fantasies), using short but telling sentences, keeping the cast's size relatively small, and drawing readers into his characters with deft hints of their thoughts and mental states. Without warning, Scabbia's minions swoop down to capture the quartet, burning their wagons and possessions, but they escape brutal fates by climbing a suddenly stiff rope that whirls them off to a happily ever after land where Ferramondo waits for them with promises of signs and wonders. Several seemingly miraculous transformations in the story's course seem to point toward further adventures, but it's hard to see what they might be after this summary resolution. Still, even a patchy tale from this master storyteller makes the general run of historical fantasy look clumsy.-John Peters, New York Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Magician Lidi recruits an orphan and an outcast as she seeks out the great Ferramondo to learn the one magic trick she is unable to do. PW said, "Even as the outsize characterizations and rollicking adventure amuse, the compassionate vision of life's possibilities is likely to bring a lump to the throat." Ages 10-up. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Table of Contents
| 1 Zaccovelli's Nose | p. 3 |
| 2 Sometimes Daniella | p. 11 |
| 3 Princess Lidi | p. 19 |
| 4 In Campania | p. 24 |
| 5 The Added Attraction | p. 33 |
| 6 Julian | p. 41 |
| 7 The First-of-May | p. 49 |
| 8 The Cafone | p. 56 |
| 9 The Baboon | p. 62 |
| 10 The Hunted | p. 69 |
| 11 The Vanishing Coin | p. 75 |
| 12 Pompadoro's Performing Porkers | p. 83 |
| 13 Pompadoro's Travels | p. 91 |
| 14 Two Roads Meet | p. 99 |
| 15 The Condemned Prisoner | p. 106 |
| 16 Two Roads Part | p. 113 |
| 17 The Magicians' Burghetto | p. 122 |
| 18 Mercurio | p. 128 |
| 19 Cocofino | p. 134 |
| 20 Fame and Fortune | p. 139 |
| 21 The Condottieri | p. 146 |
| 22 A Lost Purse | p. 157 |
| 23 Malvento | p. 165 |
| 24 The Marchese | p. 176 |
| 25 Silence | p. 183 |
| 26 The Rope Trick | p. 190 |