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The Magus

The Magus

A BBC Radio 4 full cast dramatisation

Summary

Nicholas Urfe, a young British graduate, runs away from his monotonous life to take up a teaching post on the small Greek island of Phraxos. There he meets the enigmatic figure of Maurice Conchis, and slowly gets drawn into a world full of strange encounters and psychological tricks on Conchis's estate at Bourani.

When Conchis introduces Nicholas to the enchanting and mysterious Lily Montgomery, reality and illusion begin to intertwine. But what strange game is Conchis playing with Nicholas? And, in this world coloured by artifice and deception, who is really telling him the truth?

First published in 1965, John Fowles's novel The Magus soon gained cult status. Now acclaimed dramatist and screenwriter Adrian Hodges (My Week with Marilyn, The Go-Between, Peter and Wendy, The Musketeers, Survivors, Primeval) has adapted the novel for this new dramatisation starring Tom Burke (War and Peace, The Musketeers) as Nicholas Urfe, Charles Dance (And Then There Were None, Game of Thrones) as Maurice Conchis, and Hayley Atwell (Agent Carter, Brideshead Revisited) as Lily.

Produced and directed by Heather Larmour.

About the author

John Fowles

John Fowles was born in 1926. He won international recognition with The Collector, his first published title, in 1963. He was immediately acclaimed as an outstandingly innovative writer of exceptional imaginative power, and this reputation was confirmed with the appearance of his subsequent works: The Aristos, The Magus, The French Lieutenant's Woman, The Ebony Tower, Daniel Martin, Mantissa, and A Maggot. John Fowles died in Lyme Regis in 2005. Two volumes of his Journals have recently been published; the first in 2003, the second in 2006.
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