Circus of Wonders
The Dazzling Sunday Times Bestseller from the Author of The Doll Factory
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4.1 • 79 Ratings
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
Step right up for the most captivating read of the year . . .
Filled with the sights and sounds of Victorian England, Circus of Wonders is the instant Sunday Times bestseller from Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll Factory.
‘Intensely satisfying’ – Stacey Halls, author of The Familiars
England, 1866. When Jasper Jupiter’s Circus of Wonders arrives in a coastal village, Nell soon catches the showman’s eye. Shunned by her community because of the birthmarks speckling her skin, to Jasper she is a prize – she could be his very own leopard girl. But how to make her his?
Soon Nell finds herself the star of Jasper’s show. Suddenly she is famous. Crowds rush to watch her soar through the air. Even Queen Victoria wants to see her perform. But is Nell free to live and love as she chooses? And when her fame begins to eclipse Jasper’s own, could she be in danger? After all, the higher you fly, the steeper the fall . . .
‘Filled with character and life’ – The Times
‘Utterly beguiling’ – Daily Mail
‘Brilliantly involving’ – Daily Express
‘Exhilarating’ – Sunday Times, Books of the Year
‘An immersive gem’ – Red
‘Joyous, frightening, heartbreaking’ – Independent
‘Deliciously vivid’ – Woman & Home
The Burial Plot, Elizabeth Macneal's cat-and-mouse thriller, is available now!
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Here we meet one of the most memorable heroines we’ve encountered in a long time. Nell is a young violet picker from a coastal village in the south of England sold into a circus by her father in 1866. The distinctive birthmarks that tattoo her skin had left her an outsider in her community, but within her adopted one, she soon becomes a superstar. “Nellie Moon” is suddenly a must-see attraction, with newspapers describing her as the eighth wonder of the world. However, celebrity, as ever, comes at a price and soon Nell is struggling to salvage her relationships, mental state and sense of self. Elizabeth Macneal captures the Victorian passion for circuses with extraordinary flair, and tells Nell’s beguiling, courageous story with real tenderness.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Macneal (The Doll Factory) returns with a colorful historical brimming with action and psychological conflict. Nell, 19, is ridiculed and feared in her village in 1860s England due to the birthmarks covering half her face and dappling her body. When Jasper Jupiter's Circus of Wonders pitches its tent in their tiny settlement, Nell's father drunkenly sells Nell to the megalomaniacal showman for £20. Jasper's sensitive and bearlike brother Toby, haunted by guilt over an incident in the Crimean War that keeps him under Jasper's thumb, becomes Nell's champion and eventually her lover. Jasper, meanwhile, bills Nell as "The Queen of the Moon and Stars," who, fitted with mechanical wings, flies on ropes above the heads of awestruck spectators. With performances in London, including one for Queen Victoria, Nell's fame starts to surpass Jasper's, leading to explosive confrontations between the two. Macneal successfully balances thrilling action sequences with poignant passages, particularly the tender descriptions of Toby and Nell's relationship. The author brings her fully developed characters to life, highlighting the exploitation of people with visible differences during Victorian times. This makes for a worthy spectacle of its own.
