Circus of Wonders is the story of a girl kidnapped into the circus, her quest to tell her own story, and what happens when her fame threatens to eclipse that of the showman who bought her.
An absolute triumph. Exquisitely written, intensely satisfying (Stacey Halls, author of The Familiars)
About
London. 1866.
Circus mania is sweeping the nation. 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.
Inspiration
I have always been interested in forgotten pieces of history, particularly where lives have been barely recorded, distorted by mis-telling, or eroded over time. It is the fragment that excites me – that scrap of information where my imagination begins to fill in the rest. When I was flicking through a book of Victorian photography, I came across the reproduction of a carte-de-visite. It was captioned ‘Unidentified Bearded Lady, Age 23.’ She was dressed smartly in a veil and corseted gown, holding a book. Her name, written in looping font, had been smudged and lost. Nothing more was said about her. It was this that was the seed behind Circus of Wonders.
Over the weeks that followed, I found many more fragments and pieces of information about Victorian performers, involved in the so-called ‘freak show, a booming industry which traded physical difference as a form of entertainment. There were throwaway references in poems to ladies ‘with skin white as snow,’ but nothing more was said about them. About some personages, there was much more information – for example Charles Stratton, a little person acquired by P.T. Barnum and dubbed ‘Tom Thumb’ who achieved stratospheric fame and wealth. But next to nothing was written in his own voice; rather, his showman, P.T. Barnum, wrote numerous books about his own commercial success and his role in securing Stratton’s renown. How did we know so much about Barnum and so little about those who worked for him? The comparative silence speaks volumes about the power imbalance.
From there, I researched and researched and researched. I learned so much about those involved in this Victorian spectacle – and was particularly interested in that complex line between exploitation and empowerment. I filled my house with books about the circus, and read many contemporary narratives too. Initially, I thought of writing about real historical figures. But when I sat down to write, it felt like I was invading their privacy – these were real people about whom so many stories had already been spun by media and showmen, their voices silenced and their histories overwritten by those who profited from their lives. And that is when I started writing about Nell – a girl who works in a flower farm in southern England, who finds herself sold to Jasper Jupiter, and from there her fame spreads like wildfire. Storytelling became a central theme of the novel. The novel became about Nell’s quest to tell her own story, unshaped by the showman who bought her. As Nell puts it towards the end of the book, ‘every writer is a thief and a liar.’
I really hope that you enjoy Circus of Wonders.
Interview
I was interviewed in several publications including the i Newspaper, The Daily Express, Booktopia and The National.
I wrote an article for Waterstones on the real life world of the Victorian Circus. I also wrote about the real people who inspired Circus of Wonders for Pan Macmillan.
I recorded a podcast with Read All About It, where I spoke about my favourite books. I also appeared on the BBC’s Afternoon Show to discuss my novel.
