This might be my favorite read of the year.
First, I’m a sucker for circuses. Magical circuses? Even better. Now pull in the magic of an arch prince of hell running it, a mystery to solve across timelines, tragic mournful love, and a brash character just trying to learn how to live her life? Sign me up.
This artful novel brings you to meet Lara Barnes on what should be one of the happiest days of her life, her wedding day. The lead up to her wedding is fast and helps you immediately identify with Lara and her fiancĂ©. A little magic to cheat at making the perfect wedding dress, both highlights who Lara is, and tells you what kind of book you’re getting into. What I appreciate about Constance Sayers is her characters, which are both multi faceted and flawed, as well as how they interact with the world around them.
The writing is rich and detailed, giving you Night Circus vibes but darker and more realistic. Pulling in dark family secrets that don’t want to come to light, and a long time table–seriously this book takes months to get started, but I never wanted to put it down–you feel like you know all of the actors so well by the time that they hit the point where magic and the journey start to pull at them, that you’ll be questioning exactly what comes next.
I loved that the history of what happens comes through in a slightly epistolary style, which has often been a favorite of mine, but Cecil’s side of the story isn’t cut short into clunky pieces, but each episode tells a long and important part of the story. I loved learning about the Devil’s Circus and Jazz Age Paris. It was fluid and beautiful, confusing (as was needed for the mystery of the story) and dark. I can tell you that I had my heart broken in this book more than once, but I have to say Cecil’s story was potentially my favorite part of the novel.
Romance, mystery, adventure, magic, family I don’t know where I’d truly line up this tale as they all come into play in equal measure. I adored getting to learn about the Cabot women, their play into circuses and how that intersected with art in multiple forms. Like mother, like daughter runs true in this tale to an eerie degree.
The magic was truly unique and I was delighted to find that the story of intent and sacrifice came into play in this unique world. Now that I’ve read both of Constance’s books out they are obviously set in the same universe, which brings me great pleasure to know that she’s familiar enough with the magical elements of this world that they feel real.
I cannot wait to read anything else that Constance puts out, but if you’ve read this one I would love to hear more from you! The ending was so satisfying and yet not what I’d been expecting in so many ways that I cannot wait to hear what others thought.
Want to read The Ladies of the Secret Circus you can find it here:
Goodreads ~ Storygraph ~ Bookshop ~ Libro.fm
As a side note, some of the links to Bookshop or Libro.fm will either provide me or an indie bookshop I support a portion of the affiliate sales if you use them to buy a book I recommend!
my way by Starlight 