I have heard only praise for this book...and so by the time it made it to the top of my to read list...I was concerned that there may have been too much hype.

I had nothing to worry about. Circus of Marvels certainly lives up to its name. This is a beautifully written and wonderfully visual story. The writing invokes a detailed and colourful world that is easy to see and feel.

I loved everything about how this book was written. The characters were so well drawn and felt like we knew so much about them right away. The backstory was so well crafted and so thorough but never felt over described.

I adored Nell and really felt for her even though she was not always likeable.

There were only 2 things I would change about this engaging and impressive read...1) The Dash storyline was far too drawn out. I didn't care by the time we were told the ending 2), I absolutely hated the ending, even though I could see why it ended the way it did.

This is a wonderful book for fans of The Greatest Showman. It very much shows the worst side of that world..compared to the better side the film showed us. However it also stands alone too..its for anyone that has even experienced a circus and felt that awe. It's just a great read all round.

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

A well established and quality example of storytelling and just general and good time. I enjoyed this.

'Circus of Wonders' by Elizabeth Macneal tealls a beautiful and harrowing tale of life in 1866.

Nellie picks violets for a living and lives with her brother and father. There is something different about Nellie that makes her stand out from others and she is sold by her father to the circus to be a Leopard Girl.

Nell discovers that circus life gives her something she has never had, a sense of belonging and purpose. Things soon take a harrowing turn though and she is on danger if losing all those she loves.

This is a great historical tale that pulls you in and makes you want to know what happens to the characters.

Very well written and recommended to fans of a good story and also of historical fiction.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley in allowing me to read in return for a review.

Elizabeth Macneal’s The Doll Factory was a story I was eager to enjoy. It sounded like the perfect read for me, yet I found it hard to connect with the story. A part of me had hoped it was simply a case of me being the wrong reader for the book, so I decided to give Circus of Wonders a try.

Sadly, as with The Doll Factory, Circus of Wonders did not work for me. Again, it sounded like the perfect read for me. There were elements throughout that had me interested. Despite my interest in some of the elements, the overall failed to keep me hooked throughout. It was a book I found very easy to put down and walk away from. None of the interesting elements were powerful enough to leave me unable to put the book down. I was constantly waiting for more, and that never came. I can see the appeal of this one, yet it never held my attention.

All in all, I think it is safe to say I am not the right reader for the author. They have ideas that intrigue me, yet the style of storytelling does not hold me.

I had such high expectations for this read hoping it would be like the Greatest Showman in book format. Unfortunately for me the characters felt flat and the writing was not inspiring. The characters weren’t remotely likeable and the side characters were so scarcely mentioned I couldn’t really remember what their act was in the show. I found myself skimming much of the text as the writing was doing nothing for me and was so fluffy. The book spent a good portion building up to a point, when this happened the book then carried on as if it hadn’t happened. Unfortunately not the book for me

3.5/5

I found this book very well written in terms of creating fantastic sights sounds and smells in my mind, I was there on the field, smelling all the horrid smells and hearing the crowd roar.

I found the themes of sisterhood and women rallying around to raise one another beautiful and I loved the happy ending for Nell.

However I had a few issues with the text. One - I know it’s historical fiction so it would have been a key gothic novel in that period, but I guessed the connection to Frankenstein about 5 chapters before it was dropped in. The author repeatedly mentioned Frankenstein thereafter, it felt like it was about 10 times, I didn’t count, perhaps it was more. But it was tedious by the end - yes I get it - jasper’s creations, he’s the puppet master, etc etc. It was too much repetition.

Secondly is the pacing, which is really off. It’s slow for the first 50% and then ramps up.

Thirdly some of the scenes aren’t very clear, I got a bit lost.

Other than that an interesting historical fiction read with all the fun of the circus. Thank you to the publisher for my arc!

This was such a refreshing and unique read and I adored the author’s writing style. I found myself getting lost in this world and didn’t want to leave!

Nell, who was born covered in birth marks, is sold to a travelling circus owner by her father. She finds herself surrounded by others who are ‘different’ and quickly makes friends and feels at home in her new environment. The reader is introduced to Jasper’s circus, the characters, the animals and all that goes on behind the scenes. Nell thrives and is set up in a new act as ‘Nellie Moon’ the leopard girl. How long can she remain in this upward trajectory? Jasper, the circus owner, and his brother have a love/ hate relationship which has been affected by their experiences of war. Lots of food for thought, it reminded me of The Greatest Showman, a wonderful story. Thank you to Net Galley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

A circus of wonders in a time of freak shows! I was not prepared for the emotions this book took me on. Such amazing characters such a tale of doomed romance....

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

How did I leave this on my shelf for so long I absolutely adored this book and couldn’t put this down. I felt so immersed in the book I didn’t want it to finish. It was such an immersive historical fiction with complex characters and a storyline impossible to put down.

Bases in a period time where the traveling circus was renounced and freaks of nature and the unique were sought after. This book is essentially a doomed love story about two scarred people who find a shared comfort in each other but who ultimately end up wanting different things from life.

This set in the days when freaks were a star attraction at fairs. Poverty led Nell to be sold to a circus and the owner saw an opportunity to make his fortune with her, It raises questions about whether she was better to be in the circus or whether her previous poverty stricken life was better

Circus of Wonders is an historical fiction novel set in the 1860s. This was the late Victorian period, the time when modern technology was just beginning to be invented, and the recently widowed Queen Victoria had shut herself away from the public glare. One of the central characters in the book is a photographer, and this was a recent invention at the time. Macneal talks in the book about the pictures that photographers took during the Crimean War, and how the government of the timed used them to peddle a fiction about the war which just wasn’t true. The soldiers weren’t having the time of their lives, they were dying and living in terrible conditions.

This idea of fiction vs reality is a theme that Macneal repeatedly addresses in Circus of Wonders. When Nell joins the circus, deciding to willingly follow the path that her father has forced upon her, she learns that, as Jasper Jupiter says, “It isn’t the show that counts, but the story you spin.”

Nell has markings on her skin that mark her as different to the other villagers she lives amongst. In this small community they make her undesirable, and in a way feared. Yet once she is up on stage, and the story spun about her is different, she is treated as someone special and, in a way, admired. She is treated as a celebrity of her day. Jasper sells figurines of her, and the queen invites her to the palace. As Nell acknowledges within the narrative, the marks on her skin have given her opportunities in life to see and do things she wouldn’t have had if she stayed in her small village. She would only have been ridiculed, feared, and lived a life alone in her brother’s shadow.

Macneal tells Circus of Wonders in third person present tense, which is an unusual tense for a novel. The story is so immersive though, that I barely noticed. We get three points of view: Nell’s, Jasper’s, and his brother Toby’s. All three are compelling. With some books, when there are multiple points of view, I find I favour one over another. But I didn’t find that here. All three characters had their own stories. They all had their own unique perspective on events that kept me reading and wanting to know what happened next.

Jasper, as the showman, wishes to be the centre of the show, the famous one. He dreams of crowds screaming his name, and he tries to sell merchandise with his own name and face on it. He is a jealous, ambitious man, and reading from his perspective was an interesting experience. Like the other characters in the novel, he’s complex, because as a reader I can understand his ambition. Who doesn’t wish to be the best at what they do?

In some ways, I think we all dream of that. But his ambition goes too far, spills over into an inability to see others succeed. And this ties into another minor theme in the book. Capitalism, and how in this time period, it was beginning to really flourish. As Macneal mentions several times throughout the story, everyone is buying and selling, everyone is trying to make their name, and make their fortune. This is especially true once the narrative has moved to London part way through the book.

Toby, for me, is the most interesting character in the book, because I think he is the most unusual. He’s quite a sad character, in that he carries a secret, something that happened during the war of which he is ashamed. He is very loyal to his brother, though we can clearly see that Jasper doesn’t always deserve that loyalty. Jasper treats Toby appallingly at various points throughout the narrative, and I found myself wanting to feel frustrated at him for not standing up for himself. But because we read from his point of view, we see the trauma he lives with, we feel the struggles he has within himself, the poor way he views himself. I simply felt immensely sad that he felt the way he did. I wanted him to see himself as a better person.

Of all the characters in the book, Toby feels the most real. This is because it’s hard to change when you have extremely low self-esteem (and potentially PTSD), it’s not always as easy as fictional stories sometimes portray. We don’t in real life always learn a lesson through some events and see ourselves as different people. It can take a lot of inner work to change something like that, and for some people it never changes.

Both Toby and Jasper’s perspectives include flashbacks to their time as members of the army in the Crimean War. Toby uses his photographic skills to take propaganda pictures of the war. Jasper is a soldier, along with his enigmatic friend Dash who forms the mystery of the novel. Throughout the narrative, Macneal asks question of what happened to Dash, and what his connection to the secret Toby and Jasper are guarding is.. In including the war in Circus of Wonders, it feels like Macneal is drawing a connection between the idea of war and the idea of the circus. Both are about stories, about spinning a story and representing reality in a certain way. Fiction versus reality.

Circus of Wonders does have some metafictional elements. I think Toby, and Toby’s relationship with Nell, are where those elements are strongest. Macneal references fairy tales and books like Frankenstein throughout the narrative, which of course would be a contemporary story in this period. These references to external stories tie into the idea of Toby representing reality. It feels like Macneal is comparing Toby and Nell’s lives to the fairy tales and fictional stories she’s referencing, in a way saying that life isn’t a story. Again, fiction versus reality.

Macneal writes beautifully in Circus of Wonders. She creates a compelling atmosphere that heightens the tension of the story and really immerses you in the action. I didn’t find the language to be overbearing, or overly descriptive. But she does write in a slightly poetic, lyrical way. For me, Circus of Wonders does sit on the border of literary fiction because of the use of language, though it does have a defined plot.

It actually reminds me a bit of Theatre of Marvels by Lianne Dilsworth, which I read and reviewed a few weeks ago. They both have a Victorian setting focusing on the idea of spectacle in that period. Though Theatre of Marvels is about a black woman being used as a spectacle, whereas this is about disability and medical conditions. Different context, but a similar idea. I definitely enjoyed Circus of Wonders a lot, and I will be adding her earlier book, The Doll House, to be my TBR.

Another wonderful book from Elizabeth. Her books really are an escape from reality, she fully creates whole worlds that shut everything else out, that you want to dwell in, long after the story has finished. Beautifully descriptive prose really helps you picture what is on the page.

Not really for me.
Not the books fault or any reflection on it, just not for me.

I think I was hoping for more Circus and less Romance / Historical Fiction.

Poor Toby, destined to live in his brothers shadow. Unloved and unable to have happiness of his own.

The story tugged at the heartstrings though I think the big reveal failed to really pack the full punch.

I was also disappointed by the ending.

I have to say I found the plot slow going. I would have preferred heavier editing, there is a LOT of repetition when it comes to the characters thoughts.
While it was lovely to see the development of Nell and Toby as they battle to find their place in the world, I tired of reading their hopes for the future over and over again with such little progress to show for it. The same can be said of Jasper, his constant need for fame and adoration quickly became a drag.

There's a secret tied into the Circus, a past event concerning the death of a friend- Dash. Macneal leans heavily into this throughout the book but reveals very little until the end and I started to wonder if I really cared about the reveal.

The innocence and sweetness of the Circus troupe kept me reading, I enjoyed the growth of Nell as her own person and the friendships she forged with the other female performers, I'd have preferred more of them than the brothers really. Macneal creates a magical atmosphere in the village and on the London pitch but with an undertow of impending disaster- I waited far too long for something to come of this.

Written from the perspective of Nell, Toby and Jasper we follow the brothers and their new acquisition. Born with Vitiligo; a condition that patterns Nell's skin, she finds herself sold off by her unloving father as a 'leopard girl' though the act Jasper creates for her makes much less sense.
Circus Of Wonders explores acceptance, hope, jealousy and greed in a character driven plot set during the Victorian era. Perhaps perfect for fans of historical fiction, but too bland for me.

My first book, that I have read by this author, absolutely brilliant! Highly recommended, and I will definitely read others written by this author! Beautiful cover

This is my first book by Elizabeth Macneal and it won’t be my last, so well written. Haunting & so descriptive. Loved the circus concept too. One to read.