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Nights at the Circus

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( 14,451 ratings, 1,376 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter is a fantastical journey set in the late 19th century, blending magic realism with historical fiction. The story follows Fevvers, a charismatic winged aerialist, as she traverses the world from London to Siberia with a curious American journalist, Walser. As they journey through a vividly imagined landscape filled with eccentric characters, questions about truth and identity unfold against a backdrop of wonder and spectacle.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're fascinated by the fantastical and surreal, as it weaves a rich tapestry of magical realism and deeply intriguing characters. This story delves into themes of feminism, performance, and self-discovery, making it an enticing read for anyone interested in a unique blend of enchantment and empowerment.

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Is Sophie Fevvers, toast of Europe's capitals, part swan...or all fake?

Courted by the Prince of Wales and painted by Toulouse-Lautrec, she is an aerialiste extraordinaire and star of Colonel Kearney's circus.

'One of the century's finest writers' Sunday Times

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Raunchy, raucous...a rich, turn of the 19th century world, which reeks of human and animal variety β€” The Times

Is Sophie Fevvers, toast of Europe's capitals, part swan...or all fake?

Courted by the Prince of Wales and painted by Toulouse-Lautrec, she is an aerialiste extraordinaire and star of Colonel Kearney's circus. She is also part woman, part swan. Jack Walser, an American journalist, is on a quest to discover the truth behind her identity. Dazzled by his love for her, and desperate for the scoop of a lifetime, Walser has no choice but to join the circus on its magical tour through turn-of-the-nineteenth-century London, St Petersburg and Siberia.

One of the BBC's 100 Novels That Shaped Our World

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus is celebrated for its enchanting and rich language, offering a spellbinding narrative. Critics praise its vivid descriptions and momentum, highlighting its success in blending amusement with serious, thought-provoking themes. This imaginative novel is described as both a remarkable and a masterfully crafted piece of Gothic fiction.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780099388616

Publisher: Vintage Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 29 September 1994

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Vintage Classics

Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 23.0mm

Width: 127.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 258g

Pages: 368

About the Author

Angela Carter was born in 1940. She lived in Japan, the United States and Australia. Her first novel, Shadow Dance, was published in 1965. Her next book, The Magic Toyshop, won the John Llewllyn Rhys Prize and the next, Several Perceptions, the Somerset Maugham Award. She died in February 1992.

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