The First Bright Thing
Pure magical escapism for fans of The Night Circus
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- 5,99 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
A spellbinding historical debut for fans of The Night Circus and The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue.
‘This is the magic circus book that I have been looking for all my life' – Seanan McGuire, author of the Wayward Children series
When darkness descends, expect sparks.
After the First World War, a select few wake up with frightening magical abilities. Rin can jump through time. Her wife, Odette, can heal the unhealable. And their friend, Mauve, sees what others can’t. Alone, afraid and exiled from regular society, the trio create a haven for Sparks – people like them – a circus housing those who are powerful and lost.
Now it’s 1926 and Rin runs the Circus of the Fantasticals. It travels across the States, spreading enchantment and joy to those who need it. Rin hopes their performances leave the world brighter than before. But new threats loom that even circus lights can’t vanquish. Another devastating war is barrelling across the world. Worse still, Rin’s past creeps closer every day, a malevolent shadow she can’t fully escape. This takes the form of a rival circus, with tents as black as midnight. Its leader has dark powers and even darker desires as the Sparks have something he wants – and Rin knows he won’t stop until he has it.
‘A masterpiece of the fantastical and the human’ – Freya Marske, author of A Marvellous Light
*Longlisted for Best Novel at the British Science Fiction Association Awards 2023*
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The scars of the past make themselves known in Dawson's debut, an uplifting historical time-travel fantasy. In an alternate-1920s America, Sparks, people gifted with unique powers, are shunned and feared by wider society. Rin, also known as Ringmaster, travels the American Midwest with her Spark circus, teleporting from city to city and decade to decade, while also fleeing from her husband, the Circus King, who used his own dangerous Spark to keep Rin chained in a coercive relationship. As Rin and the Circus King circle each other and the threat of WWII looms, Rin and her chosen family learn that, though some evils are too great for one person to vanquish alone, there is unexpected power in small gestures of courage. Dawson's exploration of survival and healing forms the story's emotional core but an abundance of wholesome and occasionally saccharine platitudes ("When we hurt ourselves, we hurt those around us"; "True courage comes when there is nothing we can do to stop the darkness, but we still hold the torch for those who must walk the hardest paths") undermines the narrative's power. Still, fans of gentle, uplifting speculative fiction will find much to enjoy in this heartfelt celebration of difference.
