Book Review: THE RINGMASTER'S DAUGHTER by Carly Schabowski

Title: THE RINGMASTER'S DAUGHTER

Author:  Carly Schabowski
Read: June 2020

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

Book Description:

Paris, 1940. Twenty-year-old Michel Bonnet lives on the edge of the law, finding work where he can breaking in horses on the outskirts of the city. But when the Nazis invade, Michel takes refuge as a stowaway on a rickety train bound for the rural south. It’s a journey that will change his life forever.

The train is property of Le Cirque Neumann – a travelling circus owned by the troubled and irritable showman Werner Neumann. Neumann offers Michel a job caring for the company’s horses – a lucky break, but with an unusual condition attached. Michel must keep to himself and never speak of what he sees behind the glittering curtain of the big top.

But as Michel finds himself pulled into the strange and wondrous world of the great spectacular it becomes more difficult to keep his promise. Why does the man with the performing monkey never speak, and the sword swallower turn his face away? Who are the silent, shadowy figures who flit like moths between the wagons when the sun is down? It’s clear that Neumann is keeping his performers hidden away… but why? And how can Michel win the love of the beautiful and exotic trapeze artist Frieda – the graceful, green-eyed star of Neuman’s spectacular – when he’s been forbidden to even meet her gaze?

What attracted me to this book:

Show me a child who has never dreamed of running away to the circus! Maybe this is why I always feel drawn to books with circus settings, and the combination of a WWII story and a travelling circus immediately got my attention.

My musings:

Michel is a young man living in Paris in 1940 working as a horsetrainer when the imminent invasion of the city by Nazi troops tilts his world upside down. After losing his job, and persuaded by his best friend and mentor to leave the city, he finds himself a stowaway on a train transporting a travelling circus.

From here on, Michel’s life becomes very much enmeshed with that of the various circus performers as the war slowly closes in on them. Based on a true story, the premise quickly drew me in and I enjoyed the cast of colourful circus characters who soon become Michel’s companions and friends. However, to be totally honest, as the story progressed I found myself wanting more: more circus atmosphere, more tension, more emotion. There is a little hint of all of this, but it never fully came to fruition for me. I wanted the sights, the sounds and the smells of the circus but only got little glimpses of these. It also didn’t help that the title gives away one of the major mysteries the book revolves around, and once you start reading you will see what I mean. Perhaps the biggest obstacle to rating this book any higher was my lack of emotional involvement, even though I found the story pleasant enough reading. Pleasant, but just lacking that special something that would make it stay in my mind for any longer than after the last page had been turned.

Summary:

All in all, THE RINGMASTER’S DAUGHTER will appeal to readers who are looking for a lighter WWII read that contains a little bit of everything: a bit of romance, a bit of tragedy, a tiny bit of mystery all wrapped in a circus setting. Those readers looking for a deeper, more hard hitting story delving into the psyche of a diverse group of refugees and societal misfits banded together in the troupe of a travelling circus during wartime may find the story lacking in depth, and being fairly predictable. However, it made for good escapist reading, so may be just the right choice for you in these troubled times.

 Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.