Consider the classic magician\u2019s trick of sawing a woman in half.<\/p>\n
The \u201cvictim\u201d \u2014 usually the magician\u2019s assistant \u2014 lies face up in a rectangular box, either with her head and feet sticking out or, in the earliest iterations of the illusion, fully enclosed in a coffin-like structure, watching and listening as a rusty saw slices the box (and her?) in two.<\/p>\n
To write convincingly about the trick, which is both a pivotal scene and driving metaphor of her new novel \u201cZigzag Girl<\/a>,\u201d former Lehigh University professor Ruth Knafo Setton went under the knife \u2014 er, saw \u2014 numerous times.<\/p>\n \u201cEven If you understand the principles of the illusion, there\u2019s a moment of terror, a moment of fear, the sensation of being closed in,\u201d Setton said. \u201cI don\u2019t recommend doing it if you\u2019re claustrophobic.\u201d<\/p>\n Pretending to risk life and limb before a live audience is just one adventure in a life full of thrills for Setton, who was born in Morocco and settled with her family in Allentown when she was 3. She\u2019s flown in a hot air balloon over the moon-like landscape of Cappadocia, Turkey, and sailed through typhoons three times while teaching literature courses as a Semester at Sea professor.<\/p>\n Setton shares her love of travel with her husband, Joe Setton, a real estate broker and former South Whitehall Township commissioner, and children Ishai, Arielle and Avi Setton, all Parkland High School graduates.<\/p>\n Setton was a writer in residence at the Philip and Muriel Berman Center for Jewish Studies at Lehigh University and taught creative writing and other courses there in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n \u201cZigzag Girl,\u201d which came out Tuesday, is Setton\u2019s second novel. It\u2019s getting a lot of attention in the publishing world. It was recently named a finalist for the 2026 International Thriller Writers Award for best standalone book. It\u2019s also a Grand Prize winner in ScreenCraft\u2019s Cinematic Book Competition and won first prize in the Daphne du Maurier Awards for Mystery.<\/p>\n Described by Setton as a \u201ctwisty contemporary mystery with a touch of magic,\u201d \u201cZigzag Girl\u201d is the story of Lucy Moon, a brilliant illusionist who comes from a family of famous magicians. To catch her friend\u2019s murderer, Moon must confront both a serial killer and her own mysterious past. She does this with the help of a fierce band of female magicians while navigating the gritty Atlantic City underworld.<\/p>\n Setton said she\u2019s always loved magic and sees it in the world all around her. To write convincingly about the craft, she attended magicians\u2019 conferences and workshops, and trained under several high-profile illusionists, including Teller, of Penn and Teller, Eugene Burger and Jeff McBride.<\/p>\n \u201cI got very lucky because I was invited into this world, and it\u2019s a world of secrets. It was an experience that fed my soul,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Magic is still a male-dominated arena, with women making up less than 9% of the members of the Academy of Magical Arts<\/a>, an industry group for professional magicians. Setton said that\u2019s changing, with camps and workshops seeing more young women trying out the craft.<\/p>\n During her research for \u201cZigzag Girl,\u201d Setton learned numerous tricks. During one workshop, she wrestled herself out of a straitjacket before an audience of 30 magicians.<\/p>\n But it was the woman-sawed-in-half illusion that captured her imagination the most. While playing the sawed assistant role with a kindly older magician, Setton began thinking about their different perspectives, and found a way to make the story unique.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m in the box looking up at him. He\u2019s smiling down on me, as if to say, \u2018Don\u2019t worry.\u2019 At that moment it hit me, he will never know what it\u2019s like to be in the box. I wanted to flip that and tell it from the perspective of the person in the box,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Setton will discuss \u201cZigZag Girl\u201d on March 16 at Parkland Library (registration required<\/a>), and March 21 at Barnes and Noble in Whitehall Township<\/a>.<\/p>\n Laurie Mason Shroeder is a freelance writer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Consider the classic magician\u2019s trick of sawing a woman in half. 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