The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno
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- 3,99 €
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- 3,99 €
Publisher Description
In the late 1860s, as America was recovering from Lincoln’s assassination, a man named P. T. Barnum opened a museum in New York City. Filled with oddities from around the world, it also hosted a number of sideshow freaks – including Bartholomew Fortuno, the Human Skeleton. When a new act arrives on the scene, Bartholomew finds himself falling in love . . . and caught up in the intrigues of the great showman himself, P. T. Barnum.
Inspired by true events, The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno by Ellen Bryson is an atmospheric and utterly original story about human appetites and longings, exploring what it means to be profoundly unique – and demonstrating love’s power to transcend even the greatest divisions.
‘Wildly inventive, highly entertaining.’ – The Times
'A rich tapestry of romance, illusory science, criminal trickery and human intrigue. Let the show begin.’ – Kirkus
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Inspired by a vintage circus photograph, Bryson s first novel tells the fictional story of the unusual relationship between two human curiosities from P.T. Barnum s American Museum. Bartholomew Fortuno, the world s thinnest man, is asked by Barnum to keep an eye on his latest acquisition Iell Adams, the bearded woman, who is kept in seclusion until the impresario can introduce her to the world. Fascinated by her and desiring a transformative experience, Bartholomew falls hopelessly in love with Iell, much to the surprise of his fellow Curiosities. Bartholomew also gets caught in the middle of a war between Barnum and his jealous wife for control of Iell s future. The story culminates at Barnum s birthday party, where Bartholomew is shocked to discover Iell s big secret. Though thin on plot, this work sympathetically conjures up the backstage world of Barnum s museum and the pecking order of his Curiosities, and magically transports the reader back in time to Gilded Age New York. Fans of Water for Elephants are sure to want to enter this wondrous midway attraction of a novel.
