Colm Tóibín was born in Ireland in 1955. He is the author of ten novels including The Master, Brooklyn, The Testament of Mary and Nora Webster. His work has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times, has won the Costa Novel Award and the International Dublin Literary Award. He has also published two collections of stories and many works of non-fiction. He lives in Dublin.

In this novel, The Magician, Colm Tóibín captures the profound personal conflict of Thomas Mann’s very public life, and through this life creates an intimate portrait of the twentieth century.