The Night Circus

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

"There is so much that glows in the circus, from flames to lanterns to stars.  I have heard the expression "trick of the light" applied to sights within Le Cirque des Reves so frequently that I sometimes suspect the entirety of the circus is itself a complex illusion of illumination."

Ephemeral, dark, elegant and daring, Ms. Morgenstern creates a tale of the enigmatic night circus which appears in cities unannounced, and is open only during the midnight hours.  What most circus-goers don't realize is that the circus is a clever venue for two of the most talented magicians of the century in which they battle each other for supremacy.  Their ever more daring and risky feats are the creation of increasingly more elaborate schemes and attractions within the circus itself.  

Set in the 1900s in London and traveling throughout cities of the world, this book provides a delicious glimpse into the opulent details of Victorian life, with a delicate edge of mysticism imbued into every day affairs, and a dark current of malice lingering in the shadows.  Spanning the book is a mercurial love story, which results in the fiery near-annihilation of the equally matched protagonists as they struggle to outdo each other and they barely escape, although they become fractured from the world as they knew it but wander in the fringes, carefully imbuing the circus with the life-force they give it.

Ms. Morgenstern's crisp prose will leave you wondering when Le Cirque des Reves will be arriving under the cloak of midnight sky to enchant your town.