CHING LING FOO: THE SECOND GREATEST MAGICIAN OF ALL TIME

Based on incredible real-life events. Two magicians compete for the attention of the London public in the early 20th century. As they attempt to top each other with even more elaborate and dangerous tricks, a journalist tries to uncover the truth about their rivalry.

The time is 1904. Revolution is brewing in China while the Qing Empire struggles for its last breath. In London, two magicians fight for the title of the Original Chinese Conjurer.

There’s Ching Ling Foo, who has achieved great fame in the US with his signature “water bowl” trick; the other is Chung Ling Soo, who is in fact a white American, William Robinson.

Years ago, Robinson had tried to expose Foo’s trick but was publicly rebuffed. Now, as Chung Ling Soo, he has copied almost all of Foo’s tricks and vows to dominate the London vaudeville. Soo accuses Foo as an ex-Boxer, while Foo demands Soo to prove that he is Chinese. Their feud turns increasingly violent and sinister, until the final showdown resulting in Soo’s death and which will forever be shrouded in mystery.

In this novel, Chang Kuo-Li vividly recreates the world of stage magicians, revolutionists, journalists, boxers, and prop makers of a century past. A dual narrative that tells the magicians’ legendary face-off as well as explores China’s turbulent modern history, this is also the story of the enigmatic woman, Green, who just might be the greatest Chinese magician of them all.