The Circus

Women in their infinite variety are celebrated.... A beautiful and unforgettable story about a girl who learns she must lose who she thought she was before she can become who she's meant to be."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Willow’s personal revelations make her compelling journey of reinvention soar."
—Booklist, ★ Starred Review
"THE CIRCUS is a gripping, fast-paced read with a compelling protagonist who has a host of motivations, whether you deem them right or selfishly wrong, guiding her actions. Jumping back and forth between the present and the past, Levez’s description of Willow’s journey is raw and honest."
—RT Book Reviews, ★★★★/4 stars
"Thrilling and brilliantly alluring ... With equal parts coming of age, adventure and love story, under the big top of Levez's CIRCUS, readers will find grace and wonder. "
—Shelf Awareness

Why would a girl who has everything want to run away and never be found?

Willow has staged runaways ever since she was a little girl. She has everything a young person should want: a rich daddy, clothes, money, a pony and a place at a prestigious boarding school. In reality, she has everything except the thing she really wants: a father who cares enough to find her.

Aged sixteen, on the eve of her father’s wedding, she ruins the bride’s dress and escapes through a window, determined never to return. Her missing mother was a circus performer, and Willow wants to follow in her footsteps. But the performers she meets don’t want her. When her last bit of money is stolen by Suze, another runaway girl she thought she could trust, Willow becomes really homeless. Then Suze comes tumbling back into her life and a desperate Willow has to decide whether to trust her all over again . . .

So begins their frightening, exhilarating odyssey though hunger, performance, desperation and dreams. Will they both survive and will Willow make it to the circus of her imagining?

Olivia Levez takes you into the very heart of a girl who wants so hard to be lost, but saves herself through a powerful friendship and the awakening of a need for home.

Olivia Levez divides her time between teaching English and binge-writing in her caravan by the sea. Olivia likes hula-hooping, yoga and real ale, but not at the same time. She lives in Worcestershire with her husband, two sons.

'Dressed in Levez’ glittering prose, The Circus has the heart of a lion tamer and the thrill of a trapeze. Raw, compelling, and compassionate, this is a biting and beautiful examination of why we run, what makes a home, and how we find who we are.' Kiran Millwood Hargrave author of Girl of Ink and Stars

'The narrative has a powerful immediacy. It will not be easy to forget Fran, and Olivia Levez is a talent to watch' Books for Keeps on The Island

'A punchy explosion of a book – gritty and colourful exploring the complexities of friendship, family and freedom. Wonderful – though I  am now desperate to learn the trapeze.'  Kathryn Evans, author of More of Me