Montreal author Caryl Cude Mullin’s newest novel is a riff on Shakespeare’s The Tempest that tells Caliban’s story from cradle to grave. Actually, it starts well before the cradle: in the play, Caliban’s mother, Sycorax, is described as a cruel witch banished from Algeria; the first 60 pages of Rough Magic relate Sycorax’s life story, which could easily have been a satisfying novel in itself. This rushed telling contains no actual scenes, so it’s difficult to connect with Sycorax, and the other characters come off as mere shadows.

When Caliban takes the stage – deformed, friendless, and unschooled – the book gains depth and interest. Prospero leaves the enchanted island for Italy (with Caliban in tow) and abdicates his kingdom to become an alchemist. The focus shifts when Caliban and Chiara, Miranda’s misfit daughter, return to the island to prevent Chiara’s loveless marriage, and the narrative moves back and forth between the two of them, as each struggles to restore the island to its natural state. The novel’s ending, in which Chiara and Caliban’s niece, Calypso, depart for brave new worlds, feels flat, as the two young women have barely met.

Mullin has a terrific imagination, but like many of her characters, her control over her art is not strong enough to harness that raw talent. The story is too large for the canvas and the narrative is often rushed, to the detriment of character development. Regrettably, this bold effort founders under the weight of its flaws.