What a wonder! Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth Macneal, true to its name, puts you under a spell. Set in 1860s, the novel spreads across Victorian pleasure gardens, and Crimean war fields. The said circus is the work of the mighty Jasper Jupiter, “a magpie snatching anything that sparkles”. He runs Jasper’s Circus of Wonders, with his brother Toby. The brothers are often haunted by their past—the battlefields where Jasper served as a soldier, and Toby as a war photographer. Their dream of running a circus has come true, but their lives are bound together by secrets and a death.
Jasper is ambitious, selfish and debt-ridden while his brother Toby is gentler, mysterious and secretive. The show remains the star in the novel — “In a week’s time, these grounds will burst with the shrieks of puppets and ladies and frock-coated gentlemen. Lamps will flare like farthing candles. Patrons will diner at long tables, drink overflowing bowls of punch in its quiet enclaves, and form winding queues for his show.” Jasper goes to any lengths to secure the peculiars, gives them new pasts that are weird, wonderful and dazzling, to use them in his show. He does not shy from borrowing big amounts of money from lenders or even kidnapping. Nell, whose body is spotted with birthmarks which often invites unwelcome glances from the villagers in the coastal town where she stays and picks violets for a living, is such a new addition through kidnap. She is devastated at first, being sold to the circus as a ‘leopard girl’ by her father, for twenty pounds. She feels betrayed, lost and lonely. But slowly, she is drawn to the spectacular imagined world of wonders, glitter and show. Here is how she slowly softens to her new surroundings — “She walks the empty pleasure gardens alone. The plants are ripe to the point of spoiling; roses brown and crisp and in need of deadheading, damsons turning to mush underfoot. She reaches for a perfect-looking plum, soft and yellow, and turns it over in her fits, It is ripe, ready to eat. A sharp pain in her finger. She cries out, and the wasp crawls, sugar-drunk, from the burrow where it hid itself.” She soon finds herself falling in love with Toby, and forming new friendships—the bearded Stella, the seven-foot-tall Brunette, the albino Pearl and many others. Nell is reborn with an imagined history as The Queen of Moon and Stars, as Nellie Moon. She steals the show. Newspapers call her the eighth wonder of the world and she almost eclipses the showman, even in the Queen’s eyes.
Much of the book is about show — the spectacles, the weird and wonderful, and the bitter truths of exploitation, money lending, debts. Amongst the rich descriptions are nestled the throes of power and ownership. Stella and Nell dream of having their own show ‘The Flying Sisters’ instead of being Jasper’s property. Jasper and Toby differ in their approach to the team members. Jasper who tempts new entrants with the fame and money that’ll come their way, and feeds them imagined histories, and newspaper cutouts is actually uncaring. “You’ve turned yourself into one of them. A freak. You’d choose their lives?”—he lashes at Toby who secretly tattooes peonies and botanicals to add beauty to his body.
Macneal’s descriptions are a delight—“Crowds (around a circus tent) like milling ants around a sugar cone”, “The evening slips through her fingers like a wet fishing line”, “Fat bumblebees drowse on wild poppies, legs dusty with pollen”, “(Butcher’s) hands purpled from the glossy cuts of ox heart and lamp pluck and tiny blackened lungs of city chickens. Her world is well researched, never overpowering the narrative but making it wholesome and believable. I wish there was a lengthy article on the research that went into the novel. I loved the quiet nuggets of information of a time long gone by (egg whites in photography for example) that are wedged between beautiful descriptions.
Circus of Wonders reminded me of a great many novels that I have loved previously. The atmosphere and build up made me miss the romp of The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar in 1700s London. The close but unsettling bond between the brothers reminded me of the rivalry of the sibling toymakers in Robert Dinsdale’s The Toymakers. The magic and illusion of the show felt like a lovely blend of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern with shavings of Things in Jars by Jess Kidd where female detective extraordinaire Bridie speeds through circus tents and middlemen who smuggle peculiars. As I indulged in the highs and lows, the exploits and show biz, I thought of Jesse Burton’s books which held me in their spell by the broody but decadent atmosphere (The Miniaturist), and storytelling with slight suspense (The Muse). If you are pressed for novels that glitter in your heart, make your way through all of these, one after the other—I guarantee you will feel happier by the end of the list. In fact, I found myself longing to read them all again after I finished the book.
Circus of Wonders isn’t devoid of faults. Jasper’s ending felt rushed and unrealistic. But to be honest, I didn’t mind that. The prose, and the characters continued to have their strong hold on me. The ending of the novel was the cherry on top. I have been complaining about how fiction seems to give me little enjoyment in the 2021 pandemic, but here is a novel that I relished, enjoyed and held close to my heart. A blustering marvel. Recommended!
Rating : 5/5
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CIRCUS OF WONDERS by Elizabeth Macneal is a marvel. Wonders, spectacles, exploits. A book worth your time Click To Tweet
Disclaimer : Much thanks to Picador for an e-ARC of Circus of Wonders. All opinions are my own.
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