Sorcerer’s Apprentice

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As a child in rural England, Tahir Shah first learned the secrets of illusion from a visiting Indian magician, the hereditary guardian of his ancestor’s tomb. More than two decades later he set out to India on a quest: to study the form of magic used across the subcontinent on a daily basis by so-called ‘godmen’.

Making his way to Kolkata, Tahir is taken on by Hakim Feroze, magician, illusionist, sadist, master, and irrepressible polymath, before embarking on what is described as a ‘journey of observation’.

Shah’s initiation into the brotherhood of Indian magicians makes for one of the most adventurous, enlivening, and downright bizarre travel books of its time. Lifting the lid on age-old illusions - such as human hibernation and levitation - Sorcerer’s Apprentice established Shah as one of the leading travel writers of his generation.

Nothing is what it seems in this spellbinding tale. A rollercoaster of a read from start to finish, the travelogue reveals a secret underbelly of life that thrives across India, but which most authors hardly ever notice exists.