Nights At The Circus by Angela Carter

 

Sophie Fevvers is the undoubted star of Colonel Kearney's Circus.   She isn't a delicate trapeze artist, no, this is a Viking of a woman who loves to eat and who is almost a giantess.  But she has something no one else can claim.  Fevvers has two wings growing from her back so she has a built-in safety device.  She started life as an orphan and was raised and spoiled in a brothel.  But now she is the toast of the Continent and courted by noblemen.

Jack Walser is an American journalist who comes to do a story on Fevvers and see if she is a fraud.  But he leaves that night as another male conquered by Fevvers beauty and unattainability.  He convinces his editor to let him join the circus undercover to follow Fevvers on her tour.  When he hurts himself, he is repurposed by the Colonel as a clown.  

The circus moves from France to Russia and is headed to Japan.  Fevvers is cheered everywhere but there is also the master of the Clowns, the woman who tames the tigers and finds a mate among the circus regulars and the Strongman along with the usual bears and elephants and chimps.  Together they go forth to perform but fate has more in store for them than they knew.

Angela Carter was born in England but also lived for times in Japan and Australia.  She was known for her short stories and novels which won much acclaim.  Her work focused on feminism and used magic realism as a plot device.  Her most famous work was The Bloody Chamber which was a feminist retelling of traditional fairy tales but readers may prefer this novel as an introduction as it is the closest to expected literature of her work.  Carter creates characters in this novel that are intriguing and weaves together subplots to make a story that can't be put down.  This work is recommended for literary fiction readers