Harry Houdini is Anna Van Housen's father least that's what her mother, Marguerite, has always told her. Mother and daughter have had a difficult, peripatetic life performing magic shows and conducting séances, but when they land in New York City, they find a stable home and increasing fame (even Vanderbilts attend their performances). For Marguerite, it's a matter of being a good actress, but for 16-year-old Anna, there's more to it than sleight of hand, as she truly feels and sees things that are inexplicable, adding excitement and danger to their shows and lives. Regardless of whether this ability is a matter of pedigree or coincidence, it makes her a person of interest to suave young men, dangerous kidnappers, and the real-life Society for Psychical Research. Yet despite these promising details, the story's actual point is rather nebulous and blandly executed. Still, the 1920s elements of prohibition, automobiles, and cloche hats are interesting, and the timeless adolescent themes of self-definition, rebellion, and romance infuse the magic with a realism that may be comforting, if predictable.

A gifted stage magician, Anna can sometimes glimpse the future and sense the emotions of others, a power that becomes stronger soon after she meets a young Englishman. Brown gets the historical details of 1920s New York right, and while the pacing lags, Anna's strong personality and her complex relationship with her mother, as well as a slightly supernatural romance, provide teen appeal.

Newly arrived in the exciting Jazz Age–era New York City world of mentalists, mediums and séances, can Anna Van Housen hide her gifts from her jealous mother, even as her visions become more frightening? And is she really Harry Houdini's illegitimate daughter? Sixteen-year-old Anna, capable of tricks of illusion and escape and aware of her own growing extrasensory powers, is tired of being an assistant to her mother, Marguerite--a fraud who wants to be the world's most famous medium. Brown ably depicts the tension between Marguerite's jealous resentment of her daughter and Anna's attempts at independence, as well as Anna's confusion over the romantic intentions of two very different suitors. Indeed, characterization is a strength in this first-person narrative, in which the setting, New York City in the 1920s, is so richly drawn as to become a character in itself. Actual people, organizations and locations from the illusionist scene as well as abundant fashion details of the era immerse readers in rich historical context. Anna, able to communicate with the dead and see visions of the future, must figure out how to extricate both herself and her mother from separate kidnappings and finally learn whom she can trust. With an eye-catching jacket cover, this wordy mix of magic, history and romance will appeal to fans of Libba Bray. (Historical fantasy. 13 & up)