I’m pleased to share my review for A Girl Made of Air by Nydia Hetherington today. Thank you to Quercus Books for a digital review copy via NetGalley – my thoughts are my own and not influenced by the gift.

Synopsis:

A lyrical and atmospheric homage to the strange and extraordinary, perfect for fans of Angela Carter and Erin Morgenstern.

This is the story of The Greatest Funambulist Who Ever Lived…

Born into a post-war circus family, our nameless star was unwanted and forgotten, abandoned in the shadows of the big top. until the bright light of Serendipity Wilson threw her into focus.

Now an adult, haunted by an incident in which a child was lost from the circus, our narrator, a tightrope artiste, weaves together her spellbinding tales of circus legends, earthy magic and folklore, all in the hope of finding the child… But will her story be enough to bring the pair together again?

Beautiful and intoxicating, A Girl Made of Air brings the circus to life in all of its grime and glory; Marina, Manu, Serendipity Wilson, Fausto, Big Gen and Mouse will live long in the hearts of readers. As will this story of loss and reconciliation, of storytelling and truth.

My thoughts:

This story is full of mysteries and emotions, that it is difficult to know where to begin with my review. So I will suggest that first you look at the stunning cover design, which is beautiful and I look forward to seeing it in bookshops soon.

As the synopsis states, the narrator, was a tightrope artiste, who rose up from being an unloved child of Marina hiding in the shadows, to be the main attraction at the circus. The story is so much darker than I expected, and it is an uncomfortable read in places due to the topics covered. However, it is a fascinating story, full of secrets and magic.

An impressive debut novel and I look forward to reading more from Nydia Hatherington in the futures. Her writing brought the circus to life, not just the glitz and glamour of the inside of the Big Top, but also how grubby life was for the circus people, camping in fields in all weathers.

It took me a little while to get into the writing style of this book but I eventually did and loved it!
It's about love, loss, circus, folklore, stories and hope

"AS i look out of my window, every person I see has their own wire to walk. I wish them luck in their endeavours, and hope they manage to grip their toes around the metal, feel is power, and somehow hold on. It is what I'm doing now, it's what we will always do"

This book pulls you in to its magical world with its beautiful lyrical language. I was entranced from the very beginning. This is one of those books you want to devour in one sitting but at the same time never end. The descriptions of feelings, characters and the circus are so vivid you can feel yourself transported back in time. Like any good fairytale it is quite a haunting tale about love, grief and hope. And don’t be surprised if you shed a little along the way.

This book is written as if a memoir of The Greatest Funambulist Who Ever Lived...She was born into a post war circus family, unwanted and forgotten. Until Serendipity Wilson comes along and takes her into her care. Living her adult life under the shadow of an incident when a young child was lost from the circus family. Her memoir takes us on a magical tale beautifully entwined with myth, legend and real life and on a journey to find the lost child.

Thank you to Quercus, Netgalley and Nydia Hetherington for this advanced reader's copy in return for my honest review. I absolutely loved this book, a circus setting and a neglectful child who rises from nothing. Beautiful array of cast and characters and I loved reading all their stories.

A Girl Made of Air is the debut novel of Nydia Hetherington. As such, I had no idea what to expect and so didn’t have too high expectations either. Which is a good thing. I can’t say that I’ve read many books/stories with a circus setting, but it’s definitely something that captures my imagination. I just recently watched The Greatest Showman for example. I also have many memories regarding the circus – as a kid, there was hardly a year when I haven’t been at least once each summer. I remember that one time I was lucky enough to attend a Cirque du Soleil show a couple of years back – I was awestruck and deeply inspired when it was over. Anyway. I enjoy attending these events, not least because these artists make it seem so easy, so magical. And it’s anything but that.

As someone who is into rock and roll, and generally are interested in behind the scenes stories, I long left behind the illusions that life as an artist – be it any kind of art – is hardly ever about rainbows and happyness only. Sure, there are the lucky few who get everything and manage to keep their life together, but let’s face it, there are more than who do not.

The reason why I went into this lenghty intro is because A Girl Made of Air shows you the uglier side of the circus in a way. We are after WWII, things aren’t that bright to begin with. Money is hard to come by. The MC, whose real name we never learn, but who is called Mouse by her only friend, borns into this world. Her father is the animal tamer Manu, her mother is the star of the show, Marina, who swims with crocodiles. Her life should be full of wonder and adventure, but it’s not. Her parents doesn’t love her, the others pretty much ignore her, so it’s not much of a wonder she ends up being a socially awkward, shy child and person.

Her only friend is Serendipity Wilson – who weirdly is only referred to with her full name – a funambulist, who takes Mouse under her wings and teaches her what she knows. Be it funambulism, folk tales of Isle of Man or simply love.

“We must always have an equal voice. That1s why you must find yours, Mouse, in the end, good sense is what must be heard, no matter who speaks it.”

Without going into spoilers much, A Girl Made of Air is mainly the life story of Mouse, although we also learn about the life of the others around her – her parents, the circus folks (Fausto the owner, Big Gen, Stella, Serendipity, John Frazer, etc.). It focuses more on personal relationships and hardships rather than the circus life which here is only just the stage to Mouse’s spotlight.

A Girl Made of Air is an interesting mix of diary entries, rememberings and present narratives. It creates an atmosphere which draws you in, but it also can be a hit or miss for people. I personally liked the writing style and Mouse’s story, but I’m not sure at all if I liked any of the characters and that’s what confuses me. Sympathized with them, was shocked by their actions, maybe even felt sorry for them, but never truly liked them. Maybe Serendipity and Cubby came the closest to that.

What I did like about them was that none of them were only good or bad. They all had their flaws, their good traits. They were all (painfully) human. Their personalities, decisions, lives formed by their experiences, not many of them good. Giving the more important side characters a background was also a nice touch, one I really appreciated because we got to understand them more in general and in relation to Mouse. Let’s take Marina’s past for example, that definitely was something I didn’t see coming and which very well affected their later relationship.

As for the MC, Mouse herself, she is a character I can’t puzzle out. She is that kind of MC who is very relatable but somehow you still can’t really like her. Or it might be just me. Her life in the circus is definitely not an easy one as I mentioned above until Serendipity enters her life to brighten it up. Not having any other friends, it’s not surprising she is attached to Serendipity and that wants to do everything in her power to make her happy, and that she makes somewhat naive decisions in the process. And then later some irrational ones which stands quite in contrast to her personality. At one hand I could very well relate to her – her awkwardness around people, the way she rather hid under wagons and tried not to have eye contact with anyone. I understood what was going on in her head. But then the second half of the book came around and I struggled to understand the sudden change in her personality upon meeting a person.

“Being on the high wire is like being in a different world. It’s quieter than the down-below place, the air somehow softer, as if it wants to wrap me up.”

While I overall enjoyed A Girl Made of Air, I couldn’t help feeling that a different balance in the storytelling regarding the stages of her life would have worked better. The first half is mostly about her childhood, her life in the circus and how her legend as the The Greatest Funambulist Who Ever Live started. Then we have about 45% of the second half reading about her life in Coney Island and the hight of her career, when she really became famous is just being told with big strokes, we only get the main facts, but personally I would have been much more interested in this period of her life than the rather lenghty part of her Coney Island life. Don’t get me wrong, it was interesting, but it really didn’t add too much overall. I can’t help leaving the book behind feeling like I wanted more out of it than I initially got.

Now that I got to this point in my review, I’m starting to realize that what makes me unable to decide how I feel about A Girl Made of Air is that I’m not sure what exactly the main point of it was. To tell the story of The Greatest Funambulist Who Ever Lived? Or to tell the story of her search for someone while also telling the story how she became a legend? She is telling her story to someone who is aware of the later part of her career but we, the readers aren’t really let into that part and I feel like that was a missed opportunity. As well as using more the era’s historical background, of which almost nothing seeps through.

“Everyone is the star of their own show, performing for the passing, faceless crowds. We are all clowns.”

On the other hand, A Girl Made of Air deals with heavy topics such as holocaust, suicide, child birth, rape, depression, grief, loss. Not very in details and sometimes only touching them, but they are there. Weighing heavily on our conscience all along.

Nydia Hetherington‘s A Girl Made of Air is a thought provoking debut, one that’s hard to put in a box or even describe. It needs a specific frame of mind to really enjoy and appreciate the complexity of the characters and the beauty of the writing. It definitely won’t be for everyone and that’s fine. I still urge you to give it a go if you like circus settings and a story about walking on a tight rope. Sometimes literally.

A child is born of muck and rises to dance in the air. This is a novel of metaphor and sensuous description, and it is cleverly constructed and written. It interweaves the stories of a cast of supporting characters and folkloric tales into its main narrative of a woman seeking redemption for a wrong she committed against a friend. I think the comparison with Angela Carter does it a disservice because it sets the bar dangerously high.

An interesting glimpse at the circus world! But mostly a glimpse at a woman"s past, at her miserable childhood - and the loneliness she feels before someone exceptional came into her life. A bright woman who takes an abandoned girl under her wings but also struggles to live her own life, bringing with her love and guilt in equal measure.

We feel for the characters and are anxious to discover what will happen to them - or has already happened, through a clever system of flashbacks.

I absolutely LOVED this book, it ticked all the right boxes for me, a thoroughly enjoyable read 10/10.

This beautifully written debut novel follows an unamed tight-rope walker (called Mouse by her friend) - her ups, her downs, and her bad but well intended decisions. The magical realism is nicely played, and the story structure is excellently created.

The reason why I gave it 4 stars and not 5, was the narrators voice was mature, confident, educated. Mouse, hence her name, is timid, hides under lorries to watch the world, and states as a teenager that she's only conversed with four or so people in her life. This gave me the impresion that this was the writings of an older lady, at the end of her life, writing her memoirs, which wasn't the case.

Still, a very enjoyable book, and highly recommended.

When I read the read the blurb for A girl made of air, I was expecting a book like The Night Circus. But it was quite different. This is several fairy tales intwined in a magical tale. It is quite unusual.
This is the tale is Mouse as she is called. She is a funambulist or a tight rope walker to you and me. She is the best of her craft. It tells us the story of her birth and the relationships between her mother, nor did her father take any notice of her and their lives in the circus. Her mother did not love her and let her roam the circus grounds. The only one that took notice of her is Serendipity Walker with her bright orange hair, who taught her to walk the rope and her daughter Bunny. Then Serendipity having a serious illness they decide that Bunny goes to stay with her estranged father. But they are never seen again. “Mouse” goes on the search to find them leaving the circus behind forever.
Thank you NetGalley and Quercus Books for a copy of A Girl made of Air. This is a mystical story which at first was quite hard to get into. But then it told the story of Mouse and her family and the tale of folklore and mystical creatures. To be honest I preferred the little folklore stories than the “big picture” and I thought it just went on a bit far too long.

I was so looking toward to reading this book. I had heard about it before I saw it advertised. I expected to read a book that was similar to The Night Circus or Caravel, both of which I absolutely loved. However, this was a far darker read. In my opinion it was more about relationships than the circus, and could have been based anywhere.

The girl narrator, only ever referred to as Mouse, is brought up by herself, as her parents have no thoughts about her let alone any responsibilities towards her. Until she is found by Serendipity Wilson, who nurtures her and makes her into the best Funambulist in the world.

The story is based around a lost child, Bunny, who is the daughter of Serendipity. As Mouse sits down with a journalist and tells her her story, Mouse tries to unravel what exactly happened to Bunny?

I thoroughly enjoyed the myths in the book, together with Mouse’s descriptions of being on the high wire. I would have enjoyed more of these. It was an interesting way to tell stories, but it wasn’t exactly to my taste. That’s not to say that this story wouldn’t appeal to lovers of Nydia’s beautiful lyrical writing style. Just not for me.

I’ve had quite a good run of books recently (long may it continue!), this one was quite different...I found it really heartbreaking, but in an enjoyable way.

It’s the story of “a girl made of air”...a funambulist- a tightrope walker...an unwanted child, ignored by her parents and taken in by another tightrope walker who teaches her the skill.

Life goes on in the circus, alcohol, petty jealousies, affairs, births, all contribute to this story. I really felt for “mouse”...what a life..

My thanks to Netgalley and Quercus Books for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

I adored this book! The circus setting and the neglectful parents counteracted by a protector and magical tales was a wonderful story!

WOW JUST WOW!
I don't know how any review I write for this will do the book justice.
This is just absolutely amazing!
I think everyone should read this book! it is so worthy of more than five stars.

I'm finding it hard to describe my feelings after reading this book.

It did take some getting in to as I found the style of first person narrative, different timelines and "fairy tales" all took some balancing to understand but about a third of a way through it just clicked for me.

Though there is mystical wonderment and fantasy intertwined, this is not a fluffy, light story. It is raw, gritty and tragedy pours off the pages. It very much covers the hardship, deprivation and decay within a post-war circus upbringing and how the sparkle and shine of the big top is just a show.

The character of "Mouse" was so interesting, you see her transformation under the gaze of Serendipity Wilson from invisible urchin to a stunning tight rope artist. Her determination and devotion throughout her journey in the book is unequivocally a love story. However, her elder self is clearly haunted by the ghosts of her past and the mistakes of youth. It was both a joy and a sadness to reach the end of her story.

I actually found myself comparing this story to "The Toymakers" as they have similar themes (war, survival, family, love, magic) and as with that book, this was not as I first imagined, but I have a feeling that's partly down to how it's being marketed.

I found this an emotional, traumatic read but one with a soft underbelly that if you can hold on through the storm you'll find delivers a rainbow.

My first dnf of 2020, unfortunately.

I was so drawn in by the description of this book, but unfortunately the stylistic tone of the writing just did not grab me. I got about a third of the way in and have decided against plugging on because I just have so many other books to read and I feel like I gave it a fair shot.

My problems started right from the beginning, namely that the author had two characters speaking and the dialogue did not sound realistic at all. There are certain ways that people speak, from the haughty to the commonplace, but generally they don't sound as though they are writing descriptions in a novel while doing so.

From there the format switched to the main character speaking themselves in their own writing, and that was a bit better. But again, it didn't sound like something that a person would actually *write*. I suppose there could be some argument that if you're telling a tale you would add certain embellishments, but even then, it just didn't quite work for me. You have to sell that sort of style choice and I don't feel the author did (for my particular tastes, at least).

Beyond that, the plot just didn't draw me in the way that I wanted to, and I struggled to hold my interest in what I was reading. I may try again later as I see some positive reviews from others.

A truly beautiful, magical novel full of brilliant characters.

A lover of circus themed novels (Erin Morgenstern, Stephanie Garber etc) this book was exactly what I was looking for. It's utterly enchanting and the setting really comes to life on the page. Though, the book is so much more than just a story set around a circus, it shows the sense of community and brings to life each individual character.

This is certainly a book I'll be recommending and author who I envision being on the rise.

This book was magical. I literally could not put it down. I loved the main character, I loved the way it was narrated using the main protagonist's voice to project other character's voices. I particularly enjoyed the folk lore tales from Serendipity. The book was so well written, the words just flew around me. I enjoyed the magic of the circus, New York and the descriptive prose.

A Girl Made of Air is a beautifully written piece of fiction. After seeing proof copies all over social media, along with rave reviews, I couldn't wait to read it.

The narrator of the story, whose name is never revealed, is born into the circus. Here, she is unwanted by her Mother but finds a family with newcomer, Serendity Wilson.

Interwoven with fairytales and myths, in A Girl Made of Air we learn the story of 'the greatest funambilist that ever lived', from her beginnings in the circus to her career in New York.

It took me a while to settle into, maybe because of a reading slump, but after i got halfway through, I finished the book in an afternoon.

At first I felt sympathy for the narrator and was happy when someone arrived to give her the care that she needed. My opinion changed in the middle of the book but then turned back around by the end. She's a very complex character who is written very well.

There is a lot of depth throughout the book, including the story of Marina, which is incredibly sad. The myths and folklore weaved throughout are wonderful also.

Nydia Hertherington has written a gorgeous book and I can't wait to read her next novel.

Having recently read books by Erin Morgenstern the mention of her in the blurb for 'A Girl Made of Air' pricked my curiosity. I am so glad it did. This book is wonderful.

A Girl Made of Air is told in a fantastic way. Mouse is retelling her life story to a journalist. There are folklore stories told in the voice of Serendipity Wilson, her mentor which I found so interesting.

The story got me a little emotional at times. It’s not a story I will forget in a hurry. This is a story of loss and reconciliation, of storytelling and truth. Fantastically told!

A Girl Made of Air more than lived up to my expectations, I went in thinking it would be very much like The Night Circus but it's very much its own thing. The backstory of Mouse's mother Marina and its impact on her relationship with her daughter it is deeper and darker than anything I've seen in many novels around this genre.

I won’t forget these characters any time soon and think it will be re-read in the future. Wonderful!!