Overview

In the early twentieth century, Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini were two of the most feted and famous men alive. Their relationship was extraordinary: Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of the ultra-rational detective Sherlock Holmes, was a believer in Spiritualism. He came to his belief that one could communicate with the dead, after his son and younger brother were killed in the First World War. He became an expert in the Spiritualist field and developed an unshakeable faith that the gap between life and death could be bridged. Harry Houdini, the world's foremost magician, was a friend of Conan Doyle's but was sceptical of his belief in the supernatural. Houdini, showman and master of mystery, took every opportunity to use his knowledge of illusion to expose psychics, and was incensed in particular by what he regarded as their exploitation of the 'nervous derangement' of grief.

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9780715643761

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Reviews

A magnificently rich tale * The Guardian * Astonishing... two great men who went from friendship to enmity in a battle over the after-life. * Express * This is a fascinating journey into a pair of extraordinary lives. * We Love This Book *

'A magnificently rich tale' The Guardian 'Astonishing... two great men who went from friendship to enmity in a battle over the after-life.' Express 'This is a fascinating journey into a pair of extraordinary lives.' We Love This Book 'We've had Wittgenstein and Popper, Rousseau and Hume, Leonardo and Michelangelo - now it's the turn of Houdini and Conan Doyle to star in a book structured around an argument that shaped the age.' Word Magazine

'This is a fascinating journey into a pair of extraordinary lives.' * We Love This Book * 'Astonishing... two great men who went from friendship to enmity in a battle over the after-life.' * Express * 'A magnificently rich tale.' * The Guardian *

Author Information

Christopher Sandford has been a professional writer for 29 years. He has written biographies of Keith Richards, Steve McQueen, Roman Polanski and, most recently, Imran Khan. His articles have appeared in, among others, The Times, Daily Telegraph, The Spectator, Cosmopolitan, Vanity Fair and the New York Times. He divides his time between Seattle and England.

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