Set in pre war and wartime Europe and in present day Los Angeles, this heart stirring story about Moshe Goldenhirsch, a young boy in Prague who longs to join the circus and eight decades later young Max Cohn wants to find a way to bring his divorcing pants back together again. Astutely put tiger, the stories of alternate of Moshe Goldenhirsch's life and Max's present predicament alternate.

Moshe's father, Laibl, was a rabbi, who taught Torah and Talmud, and prayed for a miracle, a child. Then he was consripted to fight in WWII. When he returned early, his wife Rivka was pregnant. Laibl eventually came to accept the pregnancy as a miracle and their bay was named Moshe, Moses. When Moshe was eight, his mother died and his father turned to drink. A chance trip to the circus with his neighbor the Locksmith (you’ll have to read the book to learn about him). After being selected from the audience to kiss the “Persian Princess” Moshe was inspired to join the circus, the same one he'd seen. So he ran away and traveled until he found them and started with shoveling cow manure and worked his way up. Eventually he became the Great Zabatini.

Meanwhile Max, rummaging through the garage of his house found a record of the Great Zabatini. The Love Spell track was scratched. Soon thought Max discovered that Zabatini lived in Los Angeles; he sought him out, even running away from home. Max brought him home to stay and demanded that he perform at his upcoming birthday party.

There is humor, horror and true magic in this novel as connections between lives are interwoven and deepened. I loved it.

I just finished "The Trick" by Emanuel Bergmann that I got from the Net Galley by a mistake by my doing. I was tempted to send it back but I started reading the book and could not put it down. What a delightful book. A story about happiness, sadness, love and lots of humor. This book about a boy during WWII and a boy in present day. All tied together in the end but I will say not more. I will give this book over 5 stars, it's a must read for anyone who likes books like "All the Light We Cannot See". The book is very moving, wonderful and pure magic. Thanks Net Galley for the copy.

I loved reading "The Trick". Thank you to Emanuel Bergmann for writing such a sweet story.

Switching chapters between the Great Zabbatini & Max (10 yr old) moves effortlessly. The story tells some of the horrors of the Holocaust, without being overly graffic (for sensitive readers, what is there may bother them). Thank you for the opportunity to read & review a wonderful story.

This book grabbed my attention from the very first sentence. The writing is beyond anything I have ever read before. I felt as if the Author was sitting in the same room with me, quietly telling me this tale. 

Author Emanuel Bergman seamlessly switches between characters, and the story flows seamlessly.

This is one book I look forward to reading again in the future.

Emanuel Bergmann in a YouTube clip describes how his book is about darkness and that he "wanted to do it in a way that is light and emotional and charming" . He has done exactly that in this story that was a little sentimental reflecting the lightness and charm, but certainly emotional in dealing with the Holocaust and the camps, and a little boy's belief in magic. ( https://youtu.be/r1zj1zLIucw) I almost always find stories from the narrative perspective of a child appealing . There's something about the mix of innocence and the precocious wisdom that gets me. I'm also many times drawn in by older characters. There's something about the child like innocence mixed with cantankerous age old wisdom in these characters. In this case I got both. I'm also drawn to WWII stories, especially those that remind us never to forget the Holocaust. So I got everything and then some with this novel.

10 year old Max looking for the Great Zabbatini's "spell of eternal love" which is missing from a scratched record his father gives him when leaving their home as Max's parents separate. He truly believes if he knew the spell, he could bring his parents back together. The Great Zabbatini's story is told in alternating narratives, as we learn his story as a young Jewish boy in Prague named Moshe Goldenhirsch and how he became a magician, a mentalist . Moshe runs away and joins the circus which changes his life in ways he couldn't imagine. "Moshe realized that the real trick happened inside the audience's mind." With this realization the Great Zabbatini was born.

It's a sweet story how these two become unlikely friends and there are both touching and funny moments as the friendship develops and they impact each other's lives. This was just short of 5 stars for me because of a revelation towards the end that didn't feel necessary to me to make this a beautiful story. A solid 4 stars and I definitely recommend it.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Atria Books through NetGalley.

The Trick by Emanuel Bergman
I received this advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I read many advanced copies and unfortunately a lot of them are disappointing. But every once in a while there is a true gem. The Trick is definitely one of those. It took me two days to finish this tale of the Great Zabbatini, the magician and Max Cohn, the 11 year old boy. The story starts out in early twentieth century Prague where Moshe Goldrish, later known as Zabbatini was born. In early twenty first century Los Angeles, Max's parents are on the brink of divorce. Max finds a record of Zabbatini, describing his famous tricks, one of those is a love spell. Max thinks if he could perform this love spell, maybe that would bring his parents back together. But the record is cracked just where the love spell Trick is, so Max starts out a search for the now 80+ year Zabbatini. The story follows Zabbatini's life through WWII , liberation and his arrival to America. The second alternating story lines follows Max's efforts to find and befriend Zabbatini in an effort to save his parents marriage.

The story reads like an adult fairy tale, written with love, warmth and so much humor, I laughed out loud a few times. It is a great debut novel and hope this author will follow with more great stories. This one is definitely five stars, and I am very stingy giving five stars.
Thanks so much NetGalley, Simon and Schuster and the author Emanuel Bergman for this great story.

n the praise written for this novel, I read that it was “perfect for fans of ‘All the Light We Cannot See’ and ’The Nightingale’, which having read this I would question. In a general sense, of course, but I didn’t consider either of those to have a sense of humour, and there is more than a touch of humour woven throughout this. It is, however, also a ’deeply moving story of a small boy who believe in everything and an old man who believes in nothing,’ all that and more.

Beginning in the early days of the twentieth century in Prague, this story alternates between Prague and Germany during World War II and the early days of the twenty-first century in the City of Angels. Following the story of a boy who joins the circus in 1934, destined for greatness, as the rumblings of war are growing louder, and alternatively in 2007 Los Angeles we follow the story through the eyes of young Max who is searching for the magician who can heal his broken family.

Moshe Goldenhirsch was a fifteen year-old boy when he first visits the circus and sees the legendary magician, the Half-Moon Man, falls in love-at-first-sight with his assistant, and soon thereafter leaves home to join the circus. Moshe, son of a rabbi, studies the art of magic, and eventually becomes the celebrated Great Zabbatini. For a time, as Hitler’s power grows, he is able to hide that he is a Jew, claiming to be Persian.

Ten year-old Max, in Los Angeles, has wandered through the house where he’s lived, where his father used to live, worrying over his parents pending divorce. He happens upon an old scratched-up album of his father’s that has The Great Zabbatini performing his greatest tricks. The only one Max is really interested in is the love spell, “THE SPELL OF ETERNAL LOVE”. Max feels that is the only sure way to keep his family together, he’d placed all his hopes on the album, but it is scratched beyond repair. And so, filled with determination, he begins a search for the real thing, The Great Zabbatini, to make his parents love one another again.

By the time enough years have passed for The Great Zabbatini and young Max to be living in the same city at the same time, Moshe is past his years of performing and is living in a center for senior citizens. He’s not in the mood for any of Max’s shenanigans or crazy ideas, but he might be interested in a new place to stay, and if that means performing one more time, he might just be up for it. Max, on the other hand, might be understandably disappointed that Zabbatini is not the image of the magician on the album cover he’d pictured. Those 88 years have not always kind. But, oh, the stories he could tell.

This could have been overly sentimental, but having the balance of the alternating stories prevents it from becoming too intense or too twee. There are moments in the camps, people afraid for their lives, but there are also some lovely, heartfelt moments of beauty, love, and kindness.

Life can be so many things, overwhelmingly beautiful, terrifying, embracing, wonderful, happy and sad, and we seem to acknowledge those feelings, as they come and go, and yet we always seem to forget how fragile that life really is.



Pub Date: 19 Sep 2017


Many thanks for the ARC from Atria Books

Travel between Prague 1934 with Moshe a Jewish Magician and Los Angeles 2007 with Max a young boy.

Magic is a beautiful lie.

Parents decide to divorce- as the father is moving out, Max finds an old record of an magician with a spell for Eternal Love. The record is scratched over the spell, so he cannot do it. He believes that only magic can put family back together. He goes on a quest to find him to learn the spell. He finds an old man who believes in nothing, but he still believes in everything.
This book is a magical adventure!
I highly recommend!!

An interesting story, a little sad and saccharine for my tastes but a good read nonetheless. I thought the parts in Europe were fine but the story that took place in the present day were written very simple, in not a good way.

This hit lots of my fiction likes: magicians, Europe during the Holocaust, young child befriends old man. A really satisfying story that read like a myth or fairy tale while still being firmly grounded.

ow! What a great book! I couldn’t put it down.

The story starts in Prague before WWII and it about a Jewish boy who eventually grows up to join the circus. Moshe does the dirty work at the circus eventually learning how to be a mentalist. With the coming of the holocaust, Moshe adopts the moniker of the Great Zabbatini, has fake papers made, and actually goes about as if he’s truly Persian and not Jewish. This went on until he was turned over to the Gestapo in a revenge move by the owner of the circus where he learned his magic.

Alternately is the story line of Max a young boy whose parents are getting divorced. He’s devastated and wants them to remain together. When his dad is collecting his things to move out, he discovers a record album by the Great Zabbatini. Intrigued, he asks his dad if can keep the record and his dad agrees. As he listens he finds there is a love spell but is unable to understand it due to a large scratch on the album. So Max sets out to find the Great Zabbatini to learn the love spell to save his parent’s marriage.

Here is where the two stories intersect. This is a wonderful story with colorful characters and twists and turns that keep you turning the page. I highly recommend!

This is a beautifully woven story of magic, love and loss. It is told from the point of view of a young Jewish boy from Prague who leaves home to be a magician during the leadup to WWII and from a young boy in modern time whose parents are getting divorced. Both stories are told in a loving, relatable and honest way. I can't recommend this highly enough.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for my review. I just finished this story and I did not want it to end! Moshe Goldenhirsch, aka The Great Zabbatini, was a magician who used his magical talents to survive WWII. Today he is a washed up old man with nothing to look forward to except dying.

Max Cohn is a ten year old who just learned that his parents are divorcing and he is looking for a magical way to get his parents back together. When he comes across a "love spell" on a scratched recording of The Great Zabbatini, he is positive that is his last hope for ending the divorce.
He sets out to find The Great Zabbatini and he ends up finding so much more!

This story is innocent and complex, sweet and surprising. It is a totally unique story that shouldn't be missed!

This book has a little bit of everything in it: romance, friendship, war, magic...the story is told in two different time lines. The first is about Moshe, a Jewish magician who goes by the name Zabbatini in Germany during WWII. The second is about Max, a young Jewish boy who finds Zabatinni during the present day to cast a spell on his parents so they don't divorce. I preferred the war time story line, mostly because I absolutely couldn't stand Max's parents. They were incredibly childish and annoying. I felt like the ending was sort of added on...like the author had to find some way to connect everything together. It just seemed tacked on. Otherwise a great story!

If I hadn't been on a crowded train in Belgium while reading the final chapters, I'd probably have cried. But I did manage to hold it together and, what's more, enjoy the humor that was mixed along with the pathos. The writing style was so assured, it's hard to believe this is a first novel (the narrative calls to mind early John Irving with a Jewish sense of irony). The book could have been twee, could have been overwrought, could have tied everything up in a too-tidy bow. It did none of those things. I can't wait till the title appears on Goodreads and Amazon so that I can post my positive review.

If you read the description of this book, you may think that this is just another WWII story. Well, it is, but it sure is a good one and I am glad that I read it. The story alternates between 1934 and 2007. It is the story of love, loss and hope.

I had a hard time getting into this book. Since I did not finish it, I do not intend to publish a review.

This book had me at the boy joins circus becomes magician line. Plus I'm partial to a good WWII story. Plus I enjoy reading internationally. So a lot of expectations going in and it exceeded all of my expectations, complete and utter beauty of a book. Told in alternate storylines, this is a story of young men and magic, via two very different paths. In 1934 Moshe, a young son of rabbi, leaves his humble life in Prague, joins a circus and becomes a magician and a mentalist, The Great Zabbatini...in present day Los Angeles a young boy desperate to not become a child of divorce seeks a magical solution and finds the no longer Great no longer Zabbatini, now a sad old man, shadow of his former self. One thread of narrative will take the readers through Zabbatini's journey, from love and fame to inevitable tragedy (he was, after all, a Jewish man during WWII in Berlin), the other will see him find a sort of redemption, the light in the end, if you will. Incredibly affecting story, it might bring tears to the eyes of even the most cynical readers. While Max is a terrific kid, his portion of the book might be considered too quaint and precision crafted uplifting, but it's meant to convey a childlike awe and (as yet by life) unsullied perspective. So yeah, it's heartwarming, it's a literary blanket for the soul. Moshe's life, though, is the real story here, a striking powerhouse of a variegated adventure, a really terrific not quite a picaresque, not quite a bildungsroman, something altogether more, something awesome. I loved this book, I found it to be a thoroughly engaging and enjoyable read. Magical even, forgive the pun. It's the sort of book that presents life (if only fleetingly) in slightly brighter colors and that is one of the greatest magic tricks literature can conjure up. Most enthusiastically recommended. Thanks Netgalley.