The Magick Bookshop: An Occult Novel

Trobe takes us through the narrow aisles of an antiquarian book seller's establishment, where we easily come under the spell of yellowed manuscripts emanating the dust of epochs and leather-bound volumes that reflect the patina of a lost age. Along the way, we learn the arcane language of the bibliophile - dice calf bindings, vellum pages, and medieval folios "glued together by time."

We also learn that the bookshop, haunted by the friendly spirits of its antecedents, inadvertently draws the academic, the dilettante, and a variety of hesitant souls into its ambiguous aura of its classical and occult tomes. Here, they face the nemesis of their strivings (and failings) in a series of cleverly drawn vignettes that reflect the Qabalistic path of the shop's proprietor, the mysterious Mr. Malynowsky.

Nor could one be so less insightful as to miss the morals that are woven into these stories. Hauntings arise from greed, possession troubles the heretic. Even the most metaphysically informed must face the knotty problems of everyday existence - love, jealousy, family conflict, and the abuses that beset modern living. These realities are not neglected in The Magick Bookshop, but they are dispatched with the application of the magical wisdom accumulated on its shelves.

Not since Dion Fortune has an occult writer drawn such colorful players from the realm of invention into the world of mundane circumstances. And the Magick Bookshop is a place we'd like to return to for more adventures. Hopefully, an imaginative sequel may in the offing and deeper secrets about its patrons will be disclosed. Curiously though, this extraordinary archive may exist in actuality - the author is known to frequent a curiously similar habitat in London's Trafalgar Square, where she lifts the veil of the mysteries for her clients on a regular basis.


High Company   October 3, 2004
DHarding (uk)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I read this almost by accident and enjoyed it immensely. It made me think about a few things I hadn't thought of in a while. It can certainly make you think - as well as laugh out loud, yep it's funny in parts as well. The Magical Bookshop, a book of 6 stories and prologue; is more than it seems, it's a very particular book and to my mind it belongs in the high company of Isaac Bashevis Singer and Jeorge Luis Borges - quite a feat, not to be underrated, and shes only really just starting in on this 'style'.
I cite these authors and not others - say Angela Carter for example or J.Winterson - because first of all, Kala Trobe's achievement is a literary achievement and it lives quite a few steps along the art of the storytellers path. It is very well written to the ear and other senses, but crucially, it has that satisfying sparkle of being much more than invention and more than a collection of stories to entertain - although it certainly does it's job on that level.
Secondly I chose those authors because; would you fight shy of reading Singer because of the Rabbinical overtones and the great learnings that underpin his work and person? - the answer is of course no - and the same must hold true for this author who seems steeped in the many paths of Natural Magic. In its presentation it comes from that arena, generally called 'Occult' which might put some people off - don't let it. It is bravely and caringly put together with regard to the modern world and how it can be perceived - and is almost in a genre of its own.
I really do want to read it again.

D.Harding.


Lyrical Writing   June 30, 2004
E. Jager (London)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Having met Kala a few times now I was keen to lay my grubby paws on this book of short stories. What a read! I enjoyed every one of them and I know for a fact she is writing a follow up to this one. Her use of language is exceptional. I even had to look some of the words up! Her knowledge and interest in the Quaballah shines through as does her knowledge of myth and magic. It isn't a lighthearted book and it tells very interesting stories of unique characters, describing places and people exceedingly well.

More than anything it has re-awakened my own curiosity in many things "different".

I would really recommend this book to any who has an interest in anything witchy or new age - or even if the title has managed to pique your curiosity.

Well worth the money I spent on it.

I am looking forward to the follow up.


Esoterically insightful entertainment!   June 27, 2004
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Ms Trobe has already graced our imaginations with her beautiful works of prose and descriptive writings interlaced in her occult books, but now for the first time we're provided the privilege of experiencing the full onslaught of her storytelling talents in her first work of fiction, "The Magick Bookshop", and what a work of fiction it is. Every paragraph from the first to the last is laced with her unique ability to integrate Qabbalistic and other more general esoteric slices of wisdom into her writing, expressing to readers through the medium of fiction, how for the competent Occultist, magick can be truly lived on a day to day basis.

How the ancient mythologies continue to play themselves out in the modern day, how magick can be utilised to both detect and resolve problems, how the divine can be recognised wherever we look, such themes form just some of the lessons Kala demonstrates to us through her stories.

Most of my reading of the past few years has been almost solely occupied by focusing on the abundance of non-fictional occult works out there. "The Magick Bookshop" has reminded me of the great use of the far reaching properties of fiction and its ability to touch both the levels of entertainment and education for the reader. The life perspectives of the colourful characters of Mr Malynowsky's shop, the stories of their experiences, coupled with the beautifully constructed sentences of Ms Trobe's very quirky, very English pen make "The Magick Bookshop" an absolute pleasure to read.