Martyn Bedford - Writer

This week sees the resurrection of one of my early novels with the e-book publication of The Houdini Girl.

First published in 1999 by Viking, in hardback, then as a Penguin paperback, the rights to reissue the novel were recently acquired by Constable & Robinson, named as Independent Publisher of the Year in 2012. It comes out on October 25th as part of the Modern Erotic Classics series, edited by the writer and critic Maxim Jakubowski, who wrote a very complimentary review of The Houdini Girl when it first came out and was keen to include it in his list.

e-book cover

The book tells the story of Fletcher Brandon, aka Red, a professional magician, and his relationship with the wild, impulsive Rosa. When Rosa dies in mysterious circumstances, Red uncovers a web of deception and illusion far greater than anything he has conjured up on stage and is drawn into the dangerous Amsterdam underworld.

Here are some review quotes:
“Martyn Bedford is the genuine article, a writer of unmistakable flair and accomplishment . . . The Houdini Girl is masterfully choreographed.” Carey Harrison, The New York Times.

“The characters in Martyn Bedford’s persuasive novel will remain vividly in your mind . . . The Houdini Girl is an impressive achievement – elegantly crafted, utterly convincing and deeply felt.”
Arthur Golden, author of Memoirs of a Geisha.

“Gripping . . . a terrific achievement . . . spiced with plenty of smoking and boozing and sex [this novel] offers a sharp rebuke to the macho culture of the new lad. The Houdini Girl powerfully lays bare the exploitation and degradation of women in pornography.”
Toby Mundy, New Statesman.

The original publishers marketed it as a literary psychological thriller, which is pretty much how I regard it, so I was surprised when I heard of plans to reissue it as an erotic novel. It does contain explicitly erotic scenes and sex (or, at least, sexual exploitation) is a key element of the plot but readers hoping for something like Fifty Shades of Grey will be disappointed, I feel.

Nevertheless, I am flattered and delighted that a bold, cutting-edge publisher regards The Houdini Girl as a modern classic and that a novel I wrote fourteen years ago has been given a new lease of life.
If you wish to buy the ebook version, please click here to link to the novel’s page on the Constable & Robinson website.