Angela Carter: Nights at the Circus (1984)

295 pages Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction From the master of the literary supernatural and author of *The Bloody Chamber*, her acclaimed novel about the exploits of a circus performer who is part-woman, part-swan. Sophi Fevvers—the toast of Europe’s capitals, courted by the Prince of Wales, painted by Toulouse-Lautrec—is an *aerialiste extraordinaire*, star of Colonel Kearney’s circus. She is also part woman, part swan. Jack Walser, an American journalist, is on a quest to discover Fevvers’s true identity: Is she part swan or all fake? Dazzled by his love for Fevvers, and desperate for the scoop of a lifetime, Walser joins the circus on its tour. The journey takes him—and the reader—on an intoxicating trip through turn-of-the-century London, St. Petersburg, and Siberia—a tour so magical that only Angela Carter could have created it. \- Penguin Random House