Circus of Wonders

The spellbinding novel from Elizabeth Macneal, author of the Sunday Times bestselling The Doll Factory, Circus of Wonders is set between a spectacular circus in the pleasure gardens of Victorian London, and the battle-scarred plains of the Crimea. It is an astonishing story about power and ownership, fame and the threat of invisibility, and one woman's determination to tell her own story.

1866. In a coastal village in southern England, Nell picks violets for a living. Set apart by her community because of the birthmarks that speckle her skin, Nell's world is her beloved brother and devotion to the sea.

      But when Jasper Jupiter's Circus of Wonders arrives in the village, Nell is kidnapped. Her father has sold her, promising Jasper Jupiter his very own leopard girl. It is the greatest betrayal of Nell's life, but as her fame grows, and she finds friendship with the other performers and Jasper's gentle brother Toby, she begins to wonder if joining the show is the best thing that has ever happened to her.

      In London, newspapers describe Nell as the eighth wonder of the world. Figurines are cast in her image, and crowds rush to watch her soar through the air. But who gets to tell Nell's story? What happens when her fame threatens to eclipse that of the showman who bought her? And as she falls in love with Toby, can he detach himself from his past and the terrible secret that binds him to his brother?

      Moving from the pleasure gardens of Victorian London to the battle-scarred plains of the Crimea, Circus of Wonders is an astonishing story about power and ownership, fame and the threat of invisibility.

      Expansive and tender . . . it really pulls you into this fascinating world.

      Vorwort
      The spellbinding novel from Elizabeth Macneal, author of the Sunday Times bestselling The Doll Factory, Circus of Wonders is set between a spectacular circus in the pleasure gardens of Victorian London, and the battle-scarred plains of the Crimea. It is an astonishing story about power and ownership, fame and the threat of invisibility, and one woman's determination to tell her own story.

      Autorentext
      Elizabeth Macneal was born in Scotland and now lives in East London. She is a writer and potter and works from a small studio at the bottom of her garden. The Doll Factory, Elizabeth's debut novel, was a Sunday Times bestseller, has been translated into twenty-nine languages and has been optioned for a major television series. Circus of Wonders is her second novel.

      Klappentext

      It is 1865 and in a coastal village in Hampshire, Nell picks violets for a living. Ostracized by her community because of the marks that pepper her skin, Nell keeps her head down and her sights small: her world is her beloved brother and devotion to the sea. Then, Jasper Jupiter's Carnival of Wonder arrives on the outskirts of the village. Nell keeps her distance, but the night after the circus has apparently left, she is kidnapped. Her father has sold her, promising Jasper Jupiter his very own leopard girl.

      It is the greatest betrayal of Nell's life, but as she comes to know the other performers and Jasper's quieter, gentler brother Toby, Nell begins to wonder if becoming part of the Carnival of Wonder is the best thing that has ever happened to her.

      Toby has always stuck to his brother's side: the shadow to his brother's luminous light. When Jasper served in the Crimean War, Toby followed with his camera, and they share a secret - hidden amongst the carnage of those battlefields - which binds them together.

      But Toby is captivated by Nell. Because she has become Nellie Moon, the star of Jasper's show: in London she is written up in the papers as the eighth wonder of the world, figurines are cast in her image, and crowds rush to watch her soar through the air.

      But who gets to tell Nell's story? And as she falls in love with Toby, can they plot their escape? As the world Jasper has created threatens to crash to the ground around him, Toby must decide where - finally - his loyalty lies.

      This is a novel with a vivid, brilliant cast of characters, and themes of creativity and ownership, beauty and monstrosity, success and crashing failure, and the Victorian obsession with spectacle and the strange.