I have fond memories of the circus, from elephant rides at the small circus that visited the local baseball field year after year to taking my children to see the animals arrive by train in advance of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. It’s a magical, wonder-filled world with a fascinating history. Let’s take a trip to the circus!
Relevant Fiction Reviews: A Trip to the Circus Share on X
The Haunting at Bonaventure Circus by Jaime Jo WrightThe Haunting at Bonaventure Circus creates an appropriately spooky mood befitting the mysterious oddities of the circus. Told in split time, the story uncovers the truth about a series of killings attributed to The Watchman.
In the early 2oth century, Pippa, adopted by the prominent Ripley circus family, wants only to be seen, and as she begins to asserts her own will in the face of her domineering father and bossy fiancé, the secrets of her birth and the circus murders unravel.
In present day, Chandler, a chronically ill single mother set to renovate the abandoned circus buildings, must face her own struggle to see herself as capable and independent.
The last third of the book was my favorite as the threads of the plot begin to come together. The writing is solid, and the heroes are unconventional – a big plus! I’d have liked a bit more romance, but it’s the self-actualization of the heroines that drives this story. The circus setting, however, is the star in this book.
Against the backdrop of the hidden life of circus “freaks,” the novel also thoughtfully examines from where our value comes and in whose eyes our worth is best measured.
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