Abstract

A man enters an abandoned movie theater and emerges in the wonderland of 1920s Los Angeles in this “ingeniously plotted” time travel adventure (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Alys is a wealthy young dilettante in 1980s Los Angeles when he runs into the mysterious Nesselrode—who leads him into the catacombs of an empty movie house, from which he emerges in a black-and-white fantasia. This is a Los Angeles on the verge of becoming itself, a place where silent films dominate the landscape, and Alys soon finds his home in the pictures and falls in love with the seductive siren Moira Silver. But as he becomes bewitched by old Hollywood, his previous life grows more and more distant, and Alys may soon wind up trapped. Alys’s journey down the rabbit hole makes for an enthralling literary adventure from the author of The Balloonist, a National Book Award finalist and “an elegant and fastidious writer” (The New York Times Book Review). “Life and art become strangely and gloriously confused when Harris’ narrator, Alys, does some time traveling and falls in love with a star of the silent screen... Lyrically written.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)