Roll up roll up! The circus is in town. Welcome back to Book Break. Today I am talking about books
set in the circus, such a magical setting that really lets your imagination run wild. So I have
got 13 books to recommend you today that will just make you want to run away and join the circus.
Or possibly not, some of the books on this list are quite creepy. But on with the show!
So starting with this book I'm holding right here, Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth Macneal. Elizabeth
Macneal is the author of The Doll Factory and she is just such a wonderful writer and she is so
good at bringing historical settings to life. At the circus of wonders, Nellie Moon is the star of
the show. She's nicknamed the leopard girl because of the very distinctive birthmarks on her skin,
and she is trained to become the aerialist, the star attraction flying through the air. She's
completely adored by the press but she and the other circus performers in this book are being
controlled and manipulated by the circus owner Jasper who sees himself as a sort of Frankenstein
figure with his collection of monsters that will bring him fame and fortune. The fact that these
performers are also real people is kind of just an inconvenience to him, an obstacle in
the way of him achieving his dreams. And Elizabeth Macneal is just wonderful at writing these amazing
glittering scenes with really sinister undertones, so she was really born to write about the circus.
Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter is about another aerialist Sophie Fevvers. She's also the
star of the show but her attraction is that she claims to be part human and part swan. According
to her she was hatched from an egg, or at least that's what she tells journalist Jack Walser who
becomes completely obsessed with her and follows the circus on its grand tour through London,
St Petersburg and Siberia. Again Angela Carter is a wonderfully magical and sinister writer so
you're sensing a theme here with these circus books. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is
a really beloved book on BookTube. This is about a mysterious circus that appears with no warning,
no announcements, it's just suddenly there when yesterday it was not. And the book is very
descriptive, really brings this magical circus to life, but behind the scenes we are also following
an intense rivalry between two young magicians Celia and Marco who have been groomed by their
mentors to be in a fierce competition with each other that they know almost nothing about. The
Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie Mclemore is about two rival families of travelling performers:
the Palomas, whose skin grows in scales, swim in mermaid exhibitions, and the Cabreaus,
who sprout feathers from their skin, are tightrope walkers and they climb the tallest trees. And
this story is a kind of Romeo and Juliet story about what happens when a Paloma falls in love
with a Cabreau. Caraval by Stephanie Garber is a fantasy trilogy about sisters Scarlett
and Tella. So in the first book Caraval, Tella is kidnapped by the mastermind organizer of Caraval,
this legendary five night long production where the audience participates in the show. This season
Tella has become part of the show, whoever finds her first is the winner. And Scarlett has been
reassured that everything that happens in Caraval is just a performance - but is it really? Then
there's Death of a Circus by Chadra Prasad, which is a really interesting book about a traveling
circus in the early 20th century when circuses were falling out of favour. And the book has this
huge ensemble cast of misfits, each with their own stories to tell about the circus, and the book
even brings a slightly supernatural element in as well. The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler is
about a young journalist called Simon who starts researching his family history. It turns out he
comes from a long line of circus mermaids. So the women in his family could hold their breath for an
unusually long amount of time which helped them perform in these mermaid exhibitions, but
all of the women of his family have died very young, all of them from drowning, and all on the
24th of July, And Simon's younger sister herself ran off to join the circus and the 24th of july
is fast approaching. For another series, you could read the Micah Grey trilogy by Laura Lam,
starting with the first book Pantomime. So this trilogy is about Gene, an intersex, gender fluid,
bisexual protagonist, who joins the circus as an aerialist. We've had a lot of aerialists
on this list, it's possibly the most magical seeming of all the roles, and Micah/Gene
does have unusual magical powers, as well as dark visions that foretell dangers to come.
Harley in the Sky by Akemi Dawn Bowman is about another aerialist. Harley's parents own a circus
in Las Vegas, and Harley has dreamt of becoming a trapeze artist for as long as she can remember,
but after a huge fight with her parents Harley runs away and joins a rival circus.
And there are so many amazing characters in this book, all of the other performers at the circus
but the book also really digs into mental health. So Harley is living with undiagnosed depression,
and the experience of living with an undiagnosed mental illness was something that the author said
was really important for her to represent. Going back to some historical fiction, you could read
The Hourglass Factory by Lucy Ribchester. This one is set in 1912 London and it's about the circus,
but it's also got suffragettes, corset fetishists, the sinking of the Titanic comes into the story,
there is so much going on in this book. And it's so much fun. So Frankie is a journalist
struggling in a very male dominated profession, who is sent to interview
the aerialist Ebony Diamond, who then mysteriously vanishes in the middle of a performance. So that
sends Frankie off onto this amazing investigation where she uncovers a much deadlier plot than she
ever imagined. Or we could jump to 1932 for Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen which is a famous
star-crossed lovers story. You may have seen the movie adaptation with Robert Pattinson and
Reese Witherspoon. Jacob is a vet put in charge of looking after the circus animals, including Rosie,
an elephant who seems completely untrainable until Jacob finds a way to reach her, But he also at the
circus meets Marlena, the beautiful equestrian performer who is already married to August, the
cruel animal trainer. So if you don't like reading about books that feature cruelty towards animals,
warning this may not be the one for you. And the book is told in two timelines, so we flash between
the story of Jacob's time at the circus, and then in present day Jacob in his 90s looking back on
his past. And then getting really scary, Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury is a dark
fantasy horror story from the 60s. It's about two 13 year olds and their nightmarish experience
when a travelling carnival comes to their midwestern town. And Mr Dark who owns the circus
is one of the scariest villains in literature. And finally some poetry Circus Folk and Village
Freaks by Aparna Sanyal is a collection of short stories told in verse. They're all about strange
imaginary villages filled with people who are considered “freaks” for defying societal norms,
or for doing things like turning into reptiles which to be fair is quite unusual. And the
tales are about feminism, racism, homophobia and cruelty, but they're also really funny
and exciting and bizarre. And the book is illustrated! So I would love to hear your
favourite books set in the circus, as well as hearing how excited you are that there is a new
Elizabeth Macneal book in the world. And if you'd like to hear more about Elizabeth Macneal and how
incredible her writing is, I will link here to a video we made all about The Doll Factory,
her first novel, so do click through and have a look and I'll see you next time!