Fiction Pick of the Week: The Night Circus

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern 2010

Erin Morgenstern describes all of her works as “fairy tales in one way or another”, and The Night Circus certainly can be seen as a dark and fantastical fairy tale. The story centres around two magicians and archrivals, Prospero and Alexander. For many years they have been playing a dangerous game which involves teaching their arts to protégés to determine who will come out the winner. The Night Circus takes place at the turn of the 20^th century, and the magicians have taken on a boy, Marco, and a girl, Celia, to play their game once again. The players don’t know the rules or even who their opponents are, but the game challenges them to create illusions and magic the likes of which no one has seen before.

Morgenstern studied theatre and is a visual artist, and this clearly comes out in her first novel. The descriptions of the magic, the costumes, and the circus are works of art themselves and you can clearly visualize the scenes. The book starts off more slowly but speeds up to an almost thriller-like pace by the end. Beautifully written for those who are willing to suspend belief!