THE ART OF DISAPPEARING

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Art of Disappearing

by Ivy Pochoda
St. Martin’s Press

In her elegant debut novel, The Art of Disappearing, Ivy Pochoda asks how love can be real if so much else is an illusion.

Toby Warring seems too young and too attractive to be sending drinks to strange women in a small-town Nevada saloon, but that is exactly how he meets Mel Snow, a textile designer who is selling her wares throughout the country. In a brief but strangely familiar conversation, Toby shows Mel that he is a rare “real” magician – actually creating the wine he places in front of her – and explains that all he has ever wanted is to perform in Las Vegas. They marry the next day.

Soon they learn what – or rather, whom – they are each searching for in the desert. Years before, Toby performed the classic trick of making his lovely assistant disappear…except that this time, she didn’t come back. Racked with guilt, he wonders when and where she might turn up, if ever. Mel has been waiting for a miracle in the least likely of places. After the childhood loss of her brother, who was always more comfortable in water, Mel still expects him to appear somewhere in the dry Nevada land.

When Toby’s magic slips dangerously out of his control during his Las Vegas debut, he swears off magic and the pair flee the desert’s gaudy heat for the mysterious weather of Amsterdam. They meet an enclave of elderly magicians who, like Toby, could once manifest their illusions before their talents faded. But as they encourage Toby to return to his craft, Mel feels her marriage begin to unravel. The growing distance between the couple prompts her to ask, in such a malleable world, is love a constant, or is it susceptible to Toby’s magic?

Ivy Pochoda graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Classical Greek and English. After graduation, she spent time in the Netherlands, pursuing a career in professional squash. She was the Spring 2009 James Merrill House Writer-in-Residence. Currently she lives in Brooklyn, NY.

“…The Art of Disappearing is a terrific page turner…”
Lisa Shea — Elle, September 2009

###

Press Contact:

[protected]
Mary Bisbee-Beek
mbisbee.beek@gmail.com
(734) 369-8238
www.ivypochoda.com
[protected]