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Lyrical prose, an eye for drama, and a full helping of candor color the magical and not-so-magical memories of life on the road with illusionist Lee Grabel. Fourteen-year-old Katy is envious of her older sister's stint as a performer in their father's successful 1950s magic show and enthralled by his decision to put his real estate business on hold to rejuvenate his traveling act twenty years later. In the year allotted for planning his comeback, there are props to restore, new sets and props to design, appearance bookings and contracts to secure, and a crew to hire. The details seem endless, and Katy has boundless enthusiasm and loyalty to the cause as she nurtures dreamy expectations of a future career in show business.
Katy convinces her skeptical mother to resume her role as Beautiful Helene, the ever-smiling magician's assistant. As Katy soon discovers, her mother is the practical, behind-the-scenes manager who truly keeps her father's feet on the ground and the show running with clockwork precision. As the stars in Katy's eyes begin to fade during the rollercoaster four-month tour, she finds solace in her role as observer of the reality behind the magic.
The vintage photos and excerpts from the author's tour journal underscore the charm and raw honesty of her perceptions and experiences, lending an air of anticipation to the chapters' contents. Her revelation that she worked on this memoir for many years but waited to publish until her father passed away underlines her love for the complex man and the deeply ambivalent feelings she developed about his devotion to showmanship and magic. The author's quiet perusal of the extraordinary moments found in ordinary daily life is finally pulled from the proverbial top hat in this thought-provoking memoir.
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