American Circus

The acclaimed author of the “lyrical coming-of-age novel” (Good Morning America) The People We Keep returns with a luminous new story of redemption, breaking generational curses, and the power of family in its truest form. After an emergency leaves her short on rent, thirty-year-old Freya...

“Thoroughly modern, accessibly brainy, hilariously eccentric, and beautifully human.” —The New York Times Book Review John Irving returns to the themes that established him as one of our most admired and beloved authors in this absorbing novel of fate and memory. In Avenue of Mysteries...

“Les Standiford takes us under the big top and behind the curtain in this richly researched and thoroughly engaging narrative that captures all of the entrepreneurial intrigue and spirit of the American circus.” —Gilbert King, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Devil in the Grove Millions...

In 1944, the big top of Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus in Hartford caught fire during the middle of an afternoon performance. Nine thousand people were inside. In seconds, the big top was burning out of control. The toll of the fire, and its circumstances, haunt Hartford to the present day. But it is the intense, detailed narrative - before, after, and especially during the panic under the burning tent - that will remain with listeners long after they finish this book.

From the New York Times best-selling coauthor of It Devours! and Welcome to Night Vale comes a fast-paced thriller about a truck driver searching across America for the wife she had long assumed to be dead, performed by the voice of the Alice Isn’t Dead podcast, Jasika Nicole, with an...

2020 Audie Awards WINNER - Short Stories/Collections The number one New York Times best-selling author of The Fireman and Strange Weather returns with a dark and ingenious collection of 13 compelling short stories that showcase his ability to “push genre conventions to new extremes” (New...

An ordinary man discovers he has been granted supernatural powers, thrusting him into a hidden war against demons that lurk unnoticed in the shadows of everyday life!

“Robert Wilson’s Barnum, the first full-dress biography in twenty years, eschews clichés for a more nuanced story…It is a life for our times, and the biography Barnum deserves.” —The Wall Street Journal P.T. Barnum is the greatest showman the world has ever seen. As a creator of the...

Nearly five million men and women have served the United States as police officers. Only one has been executed for murder. They called it Satan’s Circus–a square mile of Midtown Manhattan where vice ruled, sin flourished, and depravity danced in every doorway. At the turn of the twentieth...

Imagine that there are American MIAs who chose to remain missing after the Vietnam War. Imagine that there is a family in which four generations of strong, alluring women have shared a mysterious connection to an outlandish figure from Japanese folklore. Imagine just those things (don’t even...

Step right up and discover the fascinating story of how traveling sideshows and carnivals captured the imagination of generations. From their roots in medieval European fairs to the dazzling spectacle of the American midway, carnivals have always been more than rides and games. They were places where wonder thrived, where the boundaries between reality and illusion blurred, and where communities came together to marvel at the extraordinary. In this richly detailed history, you’ll explore the rise of the American carnival after the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, meet legendary ...

From the New York Times bestselling author of Hounded—“a superb urban fantasy debut” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)—comes an Iron Druid Chronicles short story in the captivating Carniepunk anthology. The ancient Druid Atticus O’Sullivan gets more than greasy corn dogs and flat...

Bread and Puppet Theater: A Complete Guide to the History, Art, and Legacy of America’s Radical Puppet Troupe explores one of the most important and enduring voices in political performance art. Founded by Peter Schumann in 1963, Bread and Puppet combined giant puppets, ritual, music, and fresh-baked bread to create a theater of resistance. This book traces the troupe’s journey from its origins in New York City’s countercultural ferment to its long-standing home in Vermont, where it hosted the legendary Domestic Resurrection Circus and inspired audiences from around the world. ...

It’s been slow for Madison, the Italians have been on their best behavior. But the German’s are another matter.The murder of a known German agent pits Madison against one of the deadliest agents in Europe and forces her in a race to save England’s new wonder weapon from falling into Hitler’s hands. Buy Your Copy Today!

To catch a spy you have to have the right bait.Count Facchini was sure the new A-12 anti-aircraft shell was just the trap to kill Madison Dix with. He was right. Buy Your Copy Today!

The cloak and dagger world of spy vs spy suits Madison okay, that is until Admiral Cutter has Madison arrested for murder. Now she is in a race to recover the very heart of Naval Intelligence information and her life against ruthless new advesary who plays by very different rules.

In her national bestseller Alice I Have Been, Melanie Benjamin imagined the life of the woman who inspired Alice in Wonderland. Now, in this jubilant new novel, Benjamin shines a dazzling spotlight on another fascinating female figure whose story has never fully been told: a woman who became a...

He wasn’t always the Great Showman. In fact, Phineas Taylor Barnum grew up in relative poverty with only his wits to help him along. When his father died, the 15-year-old boy entered the working world as a shopkeeper’s assistant. In leaps and bounds, he worked his way from assistant to shop owner, lottery office owner, and, eventually, entertainment promoter. The bulk of his career was focused on his beloved American Museum, where thousands of ticket holders flocked every day to look at the human oddities, stuffed animals, live whale, and American memorabilia.

“A mosaic mystery told in vignettes, cliffhangers, curious asides, and some surreal plot twists as Raffel investigates the secrets of the man who changed infant care in America.”—NPR, 2018's Great Reads What kind of doctor puts his patients on display? This is the spellbinding tale of...

A ravishing first novel, set in vibrant, tumultuous turn-of-the-century New York City, where the lives of four outsiders become entwined, bringing irrevocable change to them all. New York, 1895. Sylvan Threadgill, a night soiler cleaning out the privies behind the tenement houses, finds an...