Written by acclaimed American author Ann Patchett, The Magician’s Assistant is a piece of contemporary literature that explores life after grief, the nature of love, and the power of family dynamics. Told in two parts, one set in Los Angeles and the other in small-town Nebraska, the novel emphasizes the importance of setting and environment in the development of identity.

The author of nine novels and the recipient of numerous awards, Ann Patchett is an outspoken advocate for independent booksellers and served as the editor of Best American Short Stories 2006. Her novels have been translated into over 30 languages and have been hailed as both New York Times Notable Books and New York Times Bestsellers. One of her novels, The Dutch House, was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

This guide refers to the 1997 edition published by Harcourt Books.

Content Warning: Both the source text and this guide include descriptions of anti-gay bias, domestic violence, and physical abuse. In addition, they contain discussion of AIDS and the social stigma of its diagnosis during the time the novel takes place.

Plot Summary

The Magician’s Assistant opens on the scene of Parsifal’s death. Though Parsifal has long been diagnosed with AIDS, he dies of an aneurysm. His wife and long-time friend Sabine is there with him in his last moments. Sabine now grieves two deaths: that of Parsifal and of Parsifal’s partner, Phan, who died of complications due to AIDS a few months prior to Parsifal’s death. Sabine and Parsifal have had an unconventional marriage. Parsifal was a successful magician, and for decades, Sabine was his assistant. Sabine has always been in love with Parsifal even though Parsifal is gay and cannot love her as a romantic partner. Despite this, Sabine and Parsifal maintained a deep and loving friendship. When Parsifal fell in love with Phan, a tech developer, they all moved into Phan’s enormous mansion in Los Angeles. Sabine and Parsifal married so that Sabine could inherit Parsifal and Phan’s assets after their deaths.

Now completely alone, Sabine deeply grieves her losses. She relies on the emotional support of her parents, who are doting and loving. She returns to Phan’s house with only their pet rabbit, Rabbit, who used to be part of Sabine’s magic act. One day, when Sabine is still in the early stages of her grieving process, her lawyer surprises her with unexpected news about Parsifal. For the decades that they knew one another, Parsifal had always told Sabine that he was from Connecticut and that his family had died in a car accident. Now, the lawyer reveals that Parsifal was from Nebraska, and that his mother and two sisters are still alive. Parsifal has been sending money to them and has left them a small sum in his will.

Reeling from the loss of her beloved friend, Sabine must now contend with Parsifal’s lies. His mother, Dot Fetters, reaches out to Sabine, and Sabine invites her to Los Angeles. Dot and her daughter Bertie visit, and Sabine gives them a tour of Parsifal’s favorite places, sharing photographs with them. Dot explains that Parsifal cut off communication with her when he was a teenager. Dot states that she had a hard time with the fact that Parsifal was gay, so she sent him away to a reformatory school. When Parsifal was released, he left home and never returned. Dot feels guilty about the past and regrets that Parsifal cut her and his sisters out of his life. She is especially sad for Parsifal’s sister, Kitty, with whom he was very close.

Sabine is curious about Parsifal’s past and is empathetic to Dot and Bertie, despite Dot’s story about rejecting her son. Sabine accepts their invitation to visit them in Alliance, Nebraska for Bertie’s wedding, wanting to learn more about Parsifal’s family. Sabine’s parents warn her against going because it is clear that Parsifal did not want Sabine to know his family. Meanwhile, Sabine has been having intense and vivid dreams about Phan. In these dreams, she longs for Phan and loves him. In her dreams, he shows her around his version of the afterlife and gives her advice on how to deal with her grief and Parsifal’s lies. Sabine wants to see Parsifal, but in the dream, Phan explains that Parsifal is not yet ready for this.

Sabine travels to Nebraska, a stark juxtaposition to Los Angeles. She meets Kitty, as well as Kitty’s husband, Howard, and her sons, Howard (nicknamed How) and Guy (named after Parsifal’s birth name). Sabine is eager to learn about the Parsifal she never knew, the Parsifal formerly known as Guy. She is convinced that learning about his childhood and adolescence will bring her closer to him in the aftermath of his death.

However, the Fetters family is keeping other secrets. Sabine learns that Dot’s story about sending Parsifal away for being gay is a lie. In reality, Parsifal’s father was physically abusive. One day, while he was abusing a pregnant Dot, Parsifal intervened and hit his father over the head, accidentally killing him. Parsifal was sent to a reformatory school instead of prison.

As Sabine and the Fetters family share stories of the Parsifal/Guy they knew, Sabine learns more about Parsifal and falls in love with his family. She grows especially close to Kitty, feeling sorry for her because Kitty and Parsifal were close and Kitty wanted to run away with him. Instead, Kitty is herself in an abusive marriage that she keeps trying to leave. In a moment of intimacy, Kitty and Sabine kiss.

Meanwhile, Sabine is still having vivid dreams and struggling with understanding her identity now that Parsifal is dead. Sabine was always the magician’s assistant, and now that she is on her own, everyone encourages her to be a magician. However, Sabine doesn’t enjoy the deception required to be a magician. She performs basic tricks to entertain Parsifal’s family, but ultimately, she slowly lets go of her past relationship with magic and illusion.

By the end of the novel, Sabine has acquired a new family, a new sense of self, and a new acceptance of Parsifal’s lies. She comes to understand that Parsifal’s lies were a survival tactic that helped him to rid himself of a sad and oppressive life. Instead, he went on to create his own identity and a radically new life that empowered and freed him. When Kitty leaves her husband, Sabine invites her and her sons to come to California with her. The novel ends with Bertie’s marriage to her fiancé  Haas, ending on a hopeful note that the Fetters family and Sabine will break past cycles of toxicity and move into the future together.