I loved this book, it totally engrossed me and I fell in love with the characters and life of the circus. Set in Victorian England, when oddities were to be laughed at and enjoyed, it follows the journey of Nell, a young woman from a seaside village cruelly sold to the circus by her father because if the strange marks on her skin. She quickly finds her place in the circus and transforms herself. The book also follows the life of Toby, brother to the circus owner and a young man trying to find his own place in the circus world. So much more I could say about this book, it is filled with other interesting characters. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for my arc.

Thankyou to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me a copy of this book. I absolutely loved The Doll Factory by this author so i was so excited to get to this book and it did not disappoint. The writing style of this author flows flawlessly and she makes it so easy to fly through books. This book follows multiple perspectives, focusing on Nellie who is sold by her father to Jasper Jupiters Circus of Wonders when he comes to town. There are ups and downs and it was so good, I cannot wait for Elizabeths next book,

4.5 Stars

This is just such a beautifully balanced book. We had excellent balance between the wonder and excitement of the Victorian Circus and the cruelty, prejudice and inequality of that time too. We as get balance between the circus when it is bright and flourishing and then flash backs to the Crimean war. All of these elements rounding out to form a story filled with light and dark, the rise to power and fame and the fall from it, the balance of love and fortune, of family and glory.

All three perspectives tell the story in such unique ways and they are such deep and rich characters. All of them are trying to make something of themselves in the world, in the Circus and they are fighting the same battles in such different ways. I found myself swept away with their stories. They are such complex characters all fighting for acceptance in there own way and the way the stories intertwine just makes this such a compelling read.

I am not a particularly huge fan of Historical Fiction, but there is a fantasy like style to MacNeal's writing that kept me engrossed. The worldbuilding is so details but I like it doesn't shy away from the darkness too. It exposes the lengths showmen of the age, like P.T. Barnum, went to to earn money and fame. There is a real richness to the writing and the plot, while a little slow at times is interesting and entertaining.

My only quibble is the ending felt a little too bittersweet a little more of a fizzle out that I felt just left me wanting more. We also had a tiny portion of middle sag and a felt that there were a couple of story threads that didn't really get resolved. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this book, it is a really beautiful read.

An excellent atmospheric book set in Victorian England.
When Jasper Jupiter’s Circus of Wonders comes to town Nellie Moon finds herself sold, by her father, to the circus because of her birthmarks. A circus full of characters who were outcasts but Nellie shines at the circus and becomes the star of the show. The circus is run by Jasper with the assistance of his brother Toby and story is narrated by the brothers and Nellie which gives different views of the events that unfold. A story that kept me hooked with carefully woven flashback scenes to the Crimea which gradually reveals the reasons for the guilt in the relationship between the brothers.
An excellent evocative novel.

What a fantastic book. We’re taken on a ride from war-torn Crimea to Victorian England at her best following the exploits of two brothers who set up the Barnum-esque Jasper Jupiter's Circus of Wonders and their main attraction – Nellie Moon. Sold by her father to Jasper for a pittance, Nellie rises to become the talk of the town. However things take a nose dive when Jasper borrows more than he can afford and everyone pays the price.
Beautifully written and incredibly evocative. Another must-read new author.

I should start off by saying that I did enjoy this a lot, and I’m a big fan of Macneal’s writing generally, because most of my thoughts on Circus of Wonders that I’ve noted down do somehow seem to be negative, despite my overall liking of the novel. It began too slowly for me, and I think that part of the problem with that was that the book had been so hyped and talked about that I kind of knew what was going to happen so I was just waiting for it to come rather than enjoying the backstory. I also found visualising some of the mechanics of Nell’s act quite difficult, but that was almost definitely a me problem not a lack of description on Macneal’s part. But, again, I did really enjoy my time spent reading Circus of Wonders! I laughed out loud at the scene with the dog and Queen Victoria, and I really appreciated how well disability and disfigurement were dealt with. So I like it, I just didn’t love it!

When the Circus comes to Nell's small village she is sold to the showman on account of her birth mark that is on her face and body.

The story is narrated by three characters, Nell, Jasper the Circus owner and his brother Toby. The character development is good. I particularly enjoyed Nell's point of view. It was interesting that ad the story developed clearly so did Nell's confidence.

I really enjoyed this book it is lovely. The main storyline is captivating and the flashback scenes are woven well within the main storyline.

I loved the descriptions of the circus and Jasper's ideas!

I would recommend this book!

Thank you to Pan Macmillan and Netgalley for the arc.

🎪 Circus of Wonders 🎪
I was hooked by the first chapter and found myself totally absorbed into Nell’s world, first of the village, bullies and Violet fields and then into the Circus and all the fantastical people and acts.
Nell is a great character, a shy, withdrawn girl covered from head to toe with beautiful birthmarks, who then finds herself and her courage and flourishes in Jasper Jupiter’s Circus of Wonders.
This perfectly written book has multi narrators (which I love) and flashbacks to explain Jasper and Toby’s past. I couldn’t decide which brother I liked or disliked more! Both were jealous of each other in different ways and really only viewed the world through their own perspective.
Add in a cameo from Queen Victoria and this is genuinely the best book I’ve read this year!!
It’s 5/5 for me 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Thank you to PanMacmillan for the proof and Netgalley for the Kindle copy so I could put my insomnia to good use and keep reading into the night!

Having read and enjoyed The Doll Factory I was delighted to receive an advance copy of Circus of Wonders. Set just a few years after Elizabeth Macneal's debut this story again depicts Victorian England so well. The life of the circus - the acts, the labourers, the animals - Yet again, this is a tale of obsession and possession, betrayal and jealousy, which is very compelling.
Nell is covered in birthmarks which picks her out as being so different in the small village she lives in. Her father sells her to a circus where many of the acts are different and she fits in because of her differences.
Throughout the story there are flashbacks to the Crimea and the youth of the circus owner, Jasper and his brother Toby and the closeness of their relationship - Jasper always the stronger and more dominant brother.
A book to be savoured and thought about long after the last page.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Elizabeth Macneal/Pan Macmillan for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

Nell leads a simple life, living in a seaside village on the south coast of England with her father and brother, she works in the flower fields picking violets to send to London. But Nell is different, birthmarks scatter her face and body and she is pointed at, laughed at and ridiculed by those who see her. Her brother is fiercely protective but he is soon to be married to his childhood sweetheart and Nell can only dream to escape on a steamer boat to Boston or New York with him as they talked about as children.
Visiting near the village is Jasper Jupiter and his circus of wonders. Jasper can only dream of becoming the English version of P.T Barnum by adding more acts to his circus, he takes Nell against her will after her father sold her. After a tough start she soon adapts to her new life in the circus, she strikes up friendships with Peggy, Stella the bearded lady, Brunette the giantess and falls for Toby, Jasper's brother.
Nell is billed as the Queen of Moon and Stars and her new found fame takes her to heights she could only dream of.
An absolute delight of a book, as was The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal. She is fast becoming a favourite author. My favourite book of 2021 so far.

Don’t you hate it when you set your expectations so high for a book and it doesn’t deliver?

Don’t get me wrong, this is still a good book overall and I didn’t DNF because there were aspects I still really enjoyed.

It is well written, I loved the premise of the book and the way that Macneal was able to set the scene. I love historical fiction that feels well researched and true to its time setting. This story is set in 19th century England and explores ideas of power, ownership, invisibility, originality, fame, family and love.

The characters are well developed for the most part but I struggled to warm to any of them. We have three narrators, Jasper, Toby and Nell. Jasper is the showman, blinded by ambition to be the world’s greatest Circus. Toby is Jasper’s brother, for the most part lurking in his brother’s shadow. Nell is a young girl with unique skin markings, who is sold by her father to Jasper and transformed into Nellie Moon, Queen of the Moon and Stars, a star performer in the Circus of Wonders. I started off really engaged with Nell’s character but felt by about the middle of the book that she had become a bit flat. Jasper and Toby were both just incredibly unlikeable, although I did enjoy the Crimean war flashbacks that added to their background within the story.

The pace is quite slow so I didn’t feel totally hooked or invested in the story and kind of felt like I was waiting for something else to happen. The plot isn’t particularly exciting IMO but I still wanted to read to the end to see how it turned out. There are two plots running through the story which I think helped keep it interesting.

Although this didn’t really live up to my expectations, it was an easy and enjoyable read and I seem to be in the minority for not loving it. I would recommend for any fans of Jessie Burton or Stacy Halls as I found the writing style quite similar.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

It is 1866. Nell lives a sheltered life working with flowers, living with her brother that she adores & her father. Born with markings on her skin, she is has learned to keep to herself. The Circus of Wonders comes to town, Nell's father sees an opportunity & sells her to Jacob Jupiter. Jacob has a collection of 'oddities'. It is a strange world but at last Nell finds herself a niche. Jacob's ambitions are boundless & he is ruthless to get what he wants.

I loved Elizabeth Macneal's first book & her style of writing. For someone who would no more go to watch a circus than I would fly a trapeze. I have a fascination for books with a circus setting. I really enjoyed this one too. Jacob was a great villain- someone you loved to hate. I loved the strong women in the story. Perhaps because they were outcasts in society they were able to step outside the norm for a Victorian lady. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

Like many other readers, I loved Elizabeth Macneal's debut, The Doll Factory. Unfortunately, her second novel didn't work nearly as well for me. Circus of Wonders is narrated by three characters; Jasper, the ambitious ringmaster; his put-upon photographer brother Toby; and Nell, shunned by her village for the birthmarks that cover her skin but seized by Jasper and made into his star act. Jasper is the least conventionally likeable but the most compelling of these three protagonists, as he recklessly borrows money from backstreet lenders to catapult his circus to stardom. Nell's story also had potential, but loses its way as she settles into circus life; I felt like we lost sight of her interiority, as we get no sense of how surprising and puzzling all of this must be for a girl who grew up in a small coastal village, and she also seems to be instantly good at her act (I love a good training montage, as well!!!). And while the book as a whole is slow-paced, Toby is its biggest drag; I found his Crimean War backstory unnecessary, his self-pity and weakness frustrating, and his interest in Nell both predictable and annoying. There was nothing terribly wrong with Circus of Wonders, but I kept on leaving bigger and bigger gaps before returning to it, and eventually gave up on it. DNF @ 57%.

When a circus comes through the village Nellie and Charlie live in with their father, it changes Nellie’s life forever. Nellie is covered in an array of birthmarks which her family have tried to keep hidden, giving her a sense of embarrassment and shame, yet here is a troop with talented performers who embrace and celebrate their uniqueness.

The book is written from 3 character perspectives. Nellie, the naive villager turned confident wonder. Jasper, the power hungry, self assured, manipulating circus master. Also Toby, Jasper’s long suffering, down trodden but ultimately loyal, younger brother.

There are some lovely themes explored in this book, I especially liked the theme of acceptance. The book explored the feelings of belonging when you are accepted just as you are, as well the feelings of power when you accept yourself.

I enjoyed the main storyline and the inclusion of a second story arc which as you read enables you to better understand some of the main characters. I would have liked a bit more character development, there’s lots about what they are doing but I wanted to understand them and their feelings a bit more although I did think the blossoming relationship between Nellie and Toby was well written.

Overall this is a beautifully paced, engaging and thoroughly enjoyable read. It’s historical references to Victorian Britain and detailed storytelling also made this visually brilliant.

As soon as I read the description for this I couldn’t wait to read it, as I got serious The Greatest Showman vibes and couldn’t wait to see what was in store.
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Circus of Wonders is set in a period when Victorian society were obsessed with freaks and the fascinating oddities in our world. I thought MacNeal captured this era so well and I could do clearly picture the circus wagons, the dark and dirty streets of London and the fascinating troupe that made up Jasper Jupiter’s Circus of Wonders. Throughout the book, it was like I could see it playing out in a black and white movie and the characters and setting came to life so well because of the writing and narrative.
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I really liked how the story didn’t 100% focus on Nell. Of course she is the star and a lot of the story ties to her but we also get to know a lot of the other characters and their secrets. From Jasper and his obsession with becoming the world’s greatest showman, to Toby constantly living in his brother’s shadow, you connect with some of the characters very quickly and want to uncover more about who they are and what they have been through.
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The pace of the story is a little slow and at times you just want to get onto the next scene but overall it is done in a way that it paints the bigger picture very well. In the final 30%, the pace suddenly picks up and you realise there is a lot more to the story than just a girl finding her place in the world. ⁣
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I won’t lie, I sometimes did find that I was reading a literary version of The Greatest Showman and it was hard to fully appreciate this story as its own. I also found the ending didn’t go how I wanted it to but it nearly made the story stronger as MacNeal gave a very realistic but sad closure to the epic story.
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If you are a fan of historical fiction that has a touch of magic but also a dark side steeped in betrayal and jealousy, then this is definitely worth a read. The writing is excellent and I will definitely be picking up MacNeal’s debut, The Doll Factory.
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A big thank you to NetGalley for letting me read this before it was published.

This was an excellent read!
A wonderful setting with captivating characters, and I loved the way the author showed the prejudices of the time throughout.
I would say the plot slowed a little after the first half, but I constantly looked forward to the audiobook and the excellent narration.
The writing was beautiful, and the whole combination made for an enjoyable novel.

“She is wild yet poised, her arms as agile as an acrobat’s. She is magnetic, alive, a moth at a flame, joy radiating from her. He sees the other villagers murmuring, eyes on her. .... I present, London, a wondrous sight— Yes, Jasper thinks. Here is his ticket to the bigger game. She will be brilliant, novel, electric.“

My thanks to Pan Macmillan/Picador for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Circus of Wonders’ by Elizabeth Macneal in exchange for an honest review. I subsequently bought its hardback and unabridged audiobook editions.

May 1866. Nell lives in a small coastal village though the birthmarks that speckle her skin, mark her as different from others in the community. Her world resolves around her beloved brother and her devotion to the sea. She also loves the stories of transformation told by the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen leaving her to wonder: “Would her birthmarks disappear if somebody loved her?”

Then Jasper Jupiter’s Circus of Wonders arrives in the village. Nell’s drunken father approaches Jasper offering to sell Nell to him given her unique markings. Jasper is curious to see her. He attends the village dance and sees Nell dancing with abandon under the Moon and realises that she has the potential to become an acrobat, a star attraction.

Nell is shocked when she learns what her father has done, though despite her protests she is taken. At first Nell is determined to run away from the circus, though she slowly makes friends with the other performers including Toby, Jasper’s gentle brother. She also finds purpose and freedom in performing. Over time Nell’s fame grows, threatening to eclipse that of the flamboyant showman. This does not bode well. ..

I found myself completely swept up by Elizabeth Macneal’s exquisite prose and her vivid descriptions of the world of the Victorian circus. The chapters move between the viewpoints of Nell, Toby, and Jasper.

Macneal’s characters, both main and supporting, were well realised. Even Jasper, whose obsession with being acknowledged as the greatest showman, could have made him the archetypal villain was more than just his ego. He was genuinely kind to animals, unable to abide cruelty to them. In addition Jasper and Toby were both shaped by the Crimean War and left damaged by it in different ways.

I also appreciated the thread of fairy tales that ran through the story, from Nell’s identification with the Little Mermaid to Toby and Jasper being dubbed by their father as the Brothers Grimm for the stories they made up when young. While the story never moves into magical realism territory, there was a sense that the members of the circus troupe were not only other but somewhat otherworldly.

This was also illustrated by Nell closing the show with the lines from ‘The Tempest’, “Our revels now are ended.” That speech along with Puck’s closing in ‘Dream’ always brings to mind spirits of nature. I felt that it was to this liminal world that Macneal’s circus belonged.

Overall, I found ‘Circus of Wonders a poignant, bittersweet tale, pure magic throughout. I adored it and salute Elizabeth Macneal’s imagination and storytelling skills that made this novel such a wonderful reading experience.

Highly recommended.

An exquisite, well written novel that centres around a cast of extraordinary characters involved in a circus in Victorian era. The novel focuses on Nell, a young woman with unusual markings on her skin who is sold by her father to Jasper Jupiter's Circus of Wonders. Jasper Jupiter's attempts to turn Nell into a profit-making star soon pay off, and Nell becomes famous. However, this leads to more complications as the story progresses...

Highly recommended!

I absolutely adored the world creation in this book - the descriptions and characters really draw you in and you get fully immersed in the universe Elizabeth Macneal. The book was beautifully written, and the characters had a good amount of depth to them. However, the story fell short for me. It was extremely slow-paced and failed to keep my attention. I persevered due to wanting to know how the story would unfold, but making myself pick this up was a chore. I would recommend this book if you like slow-paced descriptive novels, but for me it just fell short.

Another stellar book from the author of The Doll Factory, which I absolutely loves. Circus of Wonders is another Victorian Era book, following Nell who is sold to the circus because of her skin. An absolutely traumatic and unacceptable situation, but as her fame grows and she finds love and friendship, Nell wonders whether this was the best thing to happen.

I love anything to do with the circus, being a circus performer, and Water for Elephants is another of my favourite books. This did not disappoint. Told with incredible storytelling and scene-setting, you grow to love and feel for Nell and all of her friendships she makes along the way.

The ending was a little disappointing, after reading the whole novel it felt a little rushed to tie things up. But other than that an excellent read.