The Magician – Colm Tóibín

Gan un o’n hawduron byw gorau daw nofel ysgubol am gariad di-alw, rhyfel a theulu. Mae The Magician yn adrodd hanes Thomas Mann, a’i bywyd llawn canmoliaeth a gwrth-ddweud. Byddai’n cael ei hun ar ochr anghywir hanes yn y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf, yn codi calon byddin yr Almaen, ond â gweledigaeth glir o’r dyfodol yn yr ail, gan ragweld erchyllterau Natsïaeth.

Byddai ganddo chwech o blant a chadw ei gyfunrywioldeb yn gudd; roedd yn ddyn a oedd yn gysylltiedig am byth â’i deulu ac eto’n dyst i anrheithiau hunanladdiad. Byddai’n ysgrifennu rhai o weithiau gorau llenyddiaeth Ewropeaidd, ac yn ennill y Wobr Nobel, ond ni fyddai byth yn dychwelyd i’r wlad a ysbrydolodd ei greadigrwydd. Trwy un bywyd, mae Colm Tóibín yn adrodd stori syfrdanol yr ugeinfed ganrif.

From one of our greatest living writers comes a sweeping novel of unrequited love and exile, war and family. The Magician tells the story of Thomas Mann, whose life was filled with great acclaim and contradiction. He would find himself on the wrong side of history in the First World War, cheerleading the German army, but have a clear vision of the future in the second, anticipating the horrors of Nazism.

He would have six children and keep his homosexuality hidden; he was a man forever connected to his family and yet bore witness to the ravages of suicide. He would write some of the greatest works of European literature, and win the Nobel Prize, but would never return to the country that inspired his creativity. Through one life, Colm Tóibín tells the breathtaking story of the twentieth century.