First published 2018
Matty Telemachus grows up in 1995 Chicago thinking his family is just spectacularly broken. His grandfather Teddy drinks too much, the bills pile up, and nobody talks about why Uncle Frankie gets weird about some old videotape every Thanksgiving. The tape shows something impossible: his relatives performing as The Amazing Telemachus Family, a touring act that combined stage magic with real psychic abilities. Teddy could bend metal with his mind, Maureen saw the future, Irene moved objects without touching them, and Frankie read thoughts. Everything fell apart one night in 1974, forcing them into hiding. Now the past catches up as government agents, mobsters, and con artists circle the family. Matty discovers he inherited more than dysfunction from his bloodline. Each Telemachus carries both a supernatural gift and the burden of being utterly human. The family must decide whether to embrace their abilities or keep pretending to be ordinary, even as their secrets threaten to destroy them.
Genres: fantasy, contemporary, magical-realism, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, hidden-past
Setting: Chicago
Period: 1974, 1995
496 pages · Paperback · Vintage