Author: Elizabeth Macneal
Publisher: Picador
Publication Date: 13/05/21
Genre(s): Historical, Fantasy
Pages: 336
Format Read: E-book
Goodreads: 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.
Group rating: 4.5*
My rating: 4.5*
This month's book club read was Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth Macneal and instead of splitting it into 4 parts and talking about it every Saturday like we usually do, we decided to split it into 2 and talk about it on 2 Saturdays instead so we would have more chance to get into the story and not have to wait as long to read it.
We all loved this book! We thought the Circus part was full of wonders and it was written so well that we could imagine all the different acts and what it would be like to be there watching the shows and thought it would make for a great film to be made from the book.
The story is told from the 3 main character's POVs; Nell the wonder of the show, Jasper the show runner and Toby his brother, and we all agreed that it was good to see the different POVs and we also thought the flashbacks to the brothers' time in the war were also really effective and interesting.
We all liked Nell and Toby but didn't like Jasper's character. We liked the turbulent relationship between Jasper and Toby that was portrayed and we also loved Nell's overall character development and the way she grew in confidence and acceptance of herself. The ending was unexpected but we loved how it didn't turn out to be a typical romance story and how everyone had found their place.
Overall a fantastic story full of wonder, acceptance and found family which we all really enjoyed, with ratings including one 3.5*, one 4.5* and the rest 5*!
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