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In 1860s England, circuses with animals, jugglers, trapeze artists, fire-eaters, and “human wonders” are popular. The queen is known to be a fancier of “freaks.” Jasper Jupiter has dreamed his whole life of having the most popular circus in the country, and his ultimate goal is to have the queen herself visit his circus and invite him to the castle. To reach that goal, he knows he has to have a true novelty, an act that no one has seen the likes of before. As he travels with his Circus of Wonders around the small towns of the countryside, he stops in a small coastal village. There lives Nell, whose skin is covered in birthmarks. Jasper buys her from her father and locks her in a caravan, and he creates a wondrous story for her: She is the Queen of the Moon and Stars. He makes wings for her and teaches her to swing and flap them, soaring high above spectators and enchanting all.
Despite her devastation at being sold by her father and missing her brother, Nell soon grows to enjoy circus life. It’s far more exciting than her simple life of picking and sorting flowers, and she doesn’t miss being made fun of by villagers. She makes friends with the others in the show and finds a place for herself, and she soaks up the adulation of the crowds. Nell also finds herself falling for Toby, Jasper’s quiet brother who is a photographer and just does what Jasper asks him to do. But there is danger in having a relationship, as Jasper wants to control everything in his carnival.
Circus of Wonders moves among the points of view of Nell, Toby and Jasper; the story is mostly set during the couple of months they work together and find fame in London, but it features flashbacks as the two men are inevitably pulled back into memories of their childhood together and the horrific things they saw and did in the Crimean War. Those experiences shape who they are and how they see the world and each other; their brotherly bond is formed, tested and remolded.
Nell is a character to root for, as she goes from a young woman who has no prospects and little feeling for herself to a woman who finds she has power and can choose the trajectory of her life.
The story is moving and heartbreaking, as we see how poorly treated people with differences were, and how little autonomy they had. It’s morbidly fascinating and appalling to learn how fine English women and others with privilege actually were spectators at bloody battles, bringing picnics and watching the show. It’s a clever move for the author to juxtapose these two “shows” in her book.
Circus of Wonders is an interesting historical fiction book, a view on a time period where humans were trotted out as “monsters” for the entertainment of others, and some of them then reclaimed their uniqueness and made the best out of what they were given to come out on top — a sleight of hand in which their inferiority became fame and fortune and a little bit of power.
Rated: High. It’s just over the line from moderate. Profanity includes four or five uses of strong language, about 10 instances of moderate profanity, around 15 uses of mild language, and a couple of instances of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content includes a number of references to people having sex, some with no details, and some with mild to moderate details, but generally brief. There is a scene where a woman is almost raped but gets away. There are a few other references to the idea that young women are being taken advantage of. Young women and children and people with various disabilities or malformations are bought and sold. The circus owner whips his laborers to keep them in line. Violence includes fighting, a fatal fire, and a good number of flashbacks to war, where there was constant killing. There are some disturbing images of the damage done to bodies.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
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