Family Circus

"You have two days to pass your audition. You better pass it, feller. You’re joining the circus. Ain’t that the best news you ever got?" Delivered by a trio of psychotic clowns, this ultimatum plunges Jamie into the horrific alternate universe that is the centuries-old Pilo Family Circus, a borderline world between Hell and Earth from which humankind’s greatest tragedies have been perpetrated. Yet in this place - peopled by the gruesome, grotesque, and monstrous - where violence and savagery are the norm, Jamie finds that his worst enemy is himself.

In Not My Circus, the author shares her extraordinary story of resilience amidst unimaginable adversity. From drug abuse and sexual trauma to homicide, she recounts her harrowing coming-of-age experiences in gritty detail. This powerful memoir will take you on a rollercoaster ride through the author's traumatic teenage and young adult years. You'll venture into the vibrant nightlife of West Hollywood, with all its temptation and danger in the height of the AIDS epidemic. You'll experience the terror of being raped and the frustration of seeking justice.

Paris, 1925: To enter the Secret Circus is to enter a world of wonder - a world where women weave illusions of magnificent beasts, carousels take you back in time, and trapeze artists float across the sky. Bound to her family's circus, it's the only world Cecile Cabot knows until she meets a charismatic young painter and embarks on a passionate affair that could cost her everything. Virginia, 2004: Lara Barnes is on top of the world until her fiancé disappears on their wedding day.

Even though his awful great-aunt Gertrudis doesn't approve, Micah believes in the stories his dying grandpa Ephraim tells him of the magical Circus Mirandus: the invisible tiger guarding the gates, the beautiful flying birdwoman, and the magician more powerful than any other - the Man Who Bends Light. Finally Grandpa Ephraim offers proof. The circus is real. And the lightbender owes Ephraim a miracle.

Jamie is rebuilding his life after his previous escape from the Pilo Family Circus, with no memories of the circus besides the clown outfit in his cupboard. Far below, as the circus stirs back to life, Jamie finds himself filled with urges to be a clown again (making inappropriate jokes at work, an urge to put on his clown outfit, etc.). He also finds that his friends and family do not trust him because of that night he was found by police in a clown suit with blood on his shoes and no memory of what happened.

In 1924, four-year-old Cecily Larson’s mother reluctantly drops her off at an orphanage in Chicago, promising to be back once she’s made enough money to support both Cecily and herself. But she never returns, and shortly after high-spirited Cecily turns seven, she is sold to a traveling circus to perform as the “little sister” to glamorous bareback rider Isabelle DuMonde. With Isabelle and the rest of the circus, Cecily finally feels she’s found the family she craves.

The story of a young girl with a dream to one day join the circus. As a six year old being raised in the Lakeland Fells of Cumbria, Emily Pratchett becomes enchanted by the glamour and thrills of a visiting circus, convinced that one day the dazzling entertainment will become a part of her life. As the years roll by, the girl’s ambition remains as determined as ever, even when tragedy strikes her impoverished farming family. Eventually she achieves her ambition but has no idea of the tribulations and obstacles which lie in front of her. Having to overcome the problems with which she is ...

Micah Tuttle - magician in training - lives and works at Circus Mirandus alongside his guardian, the ancient and powerful Lightbender. The circus is a place filled with dazzling fire shows, stubborn unicorns, and magicians from every corner of the world. And Micah is doing everything he can to prove he belongs there. When a dangerous enemy from the past threatens his new home, Micah will have to untangle the mystery of his own potent magic, and he'll have to do it fast. With trouble this deadly on its way, every magician will need to be ready to fight. Even the youngest.

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Ukrainian chef Olia Hercules decided it was finally time to tell her story. Strong Roots is the story of a century in Ukraine told through four generations of one extraordinary family. It takes us from years of Russification, to Olia’s grandmother’s deportation to snowy wastelands under Stalin, to her Aunt Zhenia's school protest, to her own parents’ flight from Ukraine when their town was occupied in 2022.

The circus can be deadly. It’s smoke and mirrors; misfits and flames. It’s the place where tricksters come to play. They sent me away with a broken wrist and a broken heart. Now I’m back, with fire burning in my veins. I live for the pounding drum beats, for the savagery and applause. The circus calls to my soul; three men more than anyone else. The ringmaster, the acrobat, and the fire-eater. My boss, my ex’s brother, and the thief in the shadows. I don’t trust them for a second, but I’ll play their wicked games. Autumn Tricksters is the second book in the Year of the Harem ...

Pan’s the name. Peter Pan, that is. My Lost Boys and I have got the hottest theater act in all of Neverland. Or we did, before Hook started poaching my performers. Now, my troupe is down to me and my right-hand gal Tinker Bell. As much as Tink’s ego doesn’t like it, we’re not enough to fill the seats on our own. Our only hope of saving our home is to recruit some fresh blood. Enter: The Darlings. A pair of mad genius twins and their pain-in-my-rear sister who insists on tagging along to keep them out of trouble. Right; her and what army? After some coaching, the pyromaniac twins are...

The final volume in “The Dark Circus Trilogy” where the line between the real and the imagined is a thin one... After escaping the Cirque Du Noir, I head home, back to the family farm. But I never make it. Once I disembark the train, I’m accosted by none other than Rex, the foreman of the circus, and another man I’ve never seen before. One who holds a gun to my face. Forced back to the circus, I’m now more keen than ever to solve the mystery of the darkness that seems to absorb everyone who not only works for the circus, but who attends it. The answers I find, I’m not prepared ...

A poor family moves to 18th-century London, where the father has been offered a job as a carpenter for a circus. His children befriend a young girl who introduces them to the great city. Their neighbor is none other than the real-life poet, William Blake.

In an attempt to secure an unexpected inheritance–and hopefully find a few answers–two estranged sisters and their newly discovered brother embark on a surreal trip through the Deep South to retrace the life of the mother who abandoned them.

Olivia remembers her trip to the circus very well. The performers were out sick, so she had to do everything. She...rode on a unicycle, jumped on a trampoline, juggled five balls, tamed lions, and flew through the air. Step into the ring with Olivia, where the lights are dim, the color soft, and a little girl's imagination is the main attraction.

Maddy Adriana knows that magic is real. All her life, her heart has pulled her toward things too perfect to be ordinary. One day, that tug leads her to a magical street circus, hidden in plain sight among the canals and boardwalks of Venice Beach. For the first time in Maddy’s life, she finally feels like she belongs. But the circus is in grave danger. Maddy will need to confront the frightening side of magic, as well as her own deepest fears, if she’s to have any hope of saving the place she dreams of calling home.

Jobe wants to be a bard like his father Jaquan. But his father abandoned him after a fight. Now Jobe’s living with his mother Jona, and working as a clown at a seaside amusement park. A singer quits, and Jobe wants to audition. But his boss Dashiel hires the infamous bard Paracleus instead, which infuriates Jobe. Jobe tries to dissuade Paracleus from performing. But Jobe finds himself seduced by Paracleus. Paracleus normally would travel to hide the fact he’s a kitsune Vulpine, a shape-shifting fox with nine tails who can take on human form. He’s afraid what’ll happen to him if ...

Roll up, roll up for the Fabulous Foskett Family Circus! There is Uncle Decimus on his scooter, Philbert juggling eggs, performing parrots, the daring fire-eating Uncle Phoenix, and much, much more!

Identical twins Sonja and Charlotte are musical prodigies with extraordinary powers. Born on All Hallows' Eve, the girls could play music before they could walk. They were found one night by Tatty, the Tattooed Lady of the circus, in a pail on her doorstep with only a note and a heart-shaped locket. They've been with Tatty ever since, roaming the Outskirts in the circus caravans, moving from place to place.

Bruno Wildermann of the Wrinfield Circus is the world’s greatest trapeze artist, a clairvoyant with near-supernatural powers and an implacable enemy of the East European regime that arrested his family and murdered his wife. The CIA needs such a man and recruits Bruno for an impossible raid—on the impregnable Lubylan fortress, where his family his held. Under cover of a circus tour, Bruno prepares to return to his homeland. But before the journey even begins a murderer strikes twice. Somewhere in the circus there is a communist agent with orders to stop Bruno at any cost.