El Mago

This epic novel tells the story of a famous man, suspicious and reserved, whose inner life suffered intense contradictions: Thomas Mann. Born in Lübeck in 1875, Mann grew up hiding his artistic aspirations from his father and his homosexual orientation from the world. He married the youngest daughter of one of Munich's richest and most cultured Jewish families, Katia, a fascinating woman with whom he had six children. He went from espousing ardent patriotism in World War I to forging a dark and complex relationship with his homeland when, as Hitler came to power, he anticipated the horrors of Nazism. Exiled in France, Switzerland and the United States, he fought to keep his loved ones safe and suffered the terrible ravages of the suicide of brothers and sons. He wrote some of the best works of European literature and won the Nobel Prize, but he never wanted to return to live in the country that inspired them.