Suspend your disbelief and enter Le Cirque des Reves. We believed in witches and wands; now we can believe in a magical circus that arrives without warning and opens only at nightfall. Believe, as well, in its amazing inhabitants: magicians who really do magic, a contortionist who collapses her body into a small glass box, a fortune teller who really tells fortunes. Here clothes change colors depending on mood, a face can change to hide its true self, a person can read the past that covers your clothes, a man has no shadow, and each tent--who knows how many--like Calvino's "invisible cities" contains a fantastical world unto itself.
This turn-of-the-century fable by first-time author Morgenstern is told in short episodes. At its heart is the story of a mysterious, years old, arranged contest--to the death, they later find out--between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who had no say in their parents' decision. Also at stake is their love for each other, which has grown deep over the years, and nothing less than the very existence of the circus itself. It's also the story of Bailey, a young boy who loves this circus more than anything else. The book drags some in the middle, but it's quickly overcome, and the flashbacks seem unnecessary. Still, this is a stellar work destined to pick up prizes. The publisher is behind this one in a big way and, yes, film rights have been sold. --Tom Lavoie, former publisher