The Magic Shop

Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) was one of the most popular British writers of all time. Prolific in many genres, he wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, history, popular science, satire, biography and autobiography, but Wells is now best remembered for his Science Fiction novels and has been called the “Father of Science Fiction”. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times.

The Magic Shop, first published in 1903 in The Strand Magazine, is a is a charming Wells’ tale about a young boy named Gip who visits a magic shop for his birthday with his father. But this is not just any magic shop – the shopkeeper insists that this is a genuine magic shop.

The theme of The Magic Shop is the difference between how children and adults see the world. Gip sees the magic shop and its proprietor as a source of wonder and joy. Gip's father sees it as nothing more than a simple joke shop and then slowly begins to see the more sinister aspects of the shop.