A Clown in the Trunk: A Memoir

The family that once took to the skies and soared on butterfly hang gliders, now rollicks across the landscape in other conveyances-from a broken-down van to the QE2, from a media-hyped "Love Train" to the Orient Express. Older now, but probably no wiser, Maralys Wills and her troupe find adventure lurking where no one else would think to look. Her writing career, as varied and offhanded as her travels, wanders down myriad paths, from romance novels to nonfiction to techno-thriller to memoirs. Yet Wills never fails to see the overlying humor that marks her life. And she never forgets her first and most essential role: "When you add up the total hours I've spent offering brilliant, unwanted advice to my offspring, you'd have to know I'm mostly a mother."In this sequel to A Circus Without Elephants, the family must again close ranks to cope with tragedy. But once more she and her large family learn that life indeed goes on-with new members to love and new events that excite, entertain, and defy description.