The Ladies of the Secret Circus
From the author of A Witch in Time comes a magical story spanning from Jazz Age Paris to present-day America of family secrets, sacrifice, and lost love set against the backdrop of a mysterious circus.
Paris, 1925: To enter the Secret Circus is to enter a world of wonder-a world where women tame magnificent beasts, carousels take you back in time, and trapeze artists float across the sky. But each daring feat has a cost. Bound to her family’s strange and magical circus, it’s the only world Cecile Cabot knows-until she meets a charismatic young painter and embarks on a passionate love affair that could cost her everything.
Virginia, 2005: Lara Barnes is on top of the world-until her fiancé disappears on their wedding day. Desperate, her search for answers unexpectedly leads to her great-grandmother’s journals and sweeps her into the story of a dark circus and a generational curse that has been claiming payment from the women in her family for generations.
Select praise for The Ladies of the Secret Circus
Ambitious and teeming with magic, The Ladies of the Secret Circus will delight fans of Deborah Harkness. Sayers creates a fascinating mix of art, The Belle Époque, and more than a little murder.
Erika Swyler, author of The Book of Speculation
Spellbinding. The Ladies Of The Secret Circus is a dazzling, high-wire feat of storytelling.
Catherine Taylor, author of Beyond the Moon
Sayers (A Witch in Time) weaves romance, mystery, and a family curse into a spellbinding historical fantasy that stretches from 1920s Paris to modern-day America...The rich descriptions and fascinating settings create engagement in both timelines, and the secret of Lara’s bloodline is original and surprising. Fans of Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus will love this page-turning story of dark magic, star-crossed love, and familial sacrifice.
Publisher's Weekly (starred review)
At times decadent and macabre, The Ladies of the Secret Circus is a mesmerizing tale of love, treachery, and depraved magic percolating through four generations of Cabot women.
LuAnne G. Smith, author of The Vine Witch
The Ladies of the Secret Circus is a dazzling dark fairy tale, laced with sinister magic, blood and beauty, love and loss. This is a book that will haunt you long after the last page is turned.
Alyssa Palombo, author of The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel