Reviewed by Martha Artyomenko
About the Book:
What is revealed when you pull back the curtain of the greatest show on earth?
Rosamund Easling is no stranger to opulence. As the daughter of an earl, she’s grown up with all the comforts money can buy. But when hard times befall the family’s Yorkshire estate in the aftermath of the Great War, the stage is set for a series of events that change her world beyond even her wildest dreams.
Though expected to marry for a title instead of love, Rosamund feels called to a different life—one of adventure outside the confines of a ladies’ parlor. When her father sells her beloved horse, she abandons all she’s known and follows in pursuit as her horse is shipped to the new owner—an American entertainer by the name of John Ringling. Knowing she has much to learn, Rosamund agrees to a bareback riding apprenticeship in the shadow of the Ringlings’ home—the Ca’D’Zan. In what would become the last days of the enigmatic Mable Ringling’s life, Rosamund finds a deeper sense of purpose in her new life and begins to experience the awakening of faith.
With a mysterious and dazzling supporting cast of characters, Rosamund journeys far from the traditions of the English countryside to the last days of the Roaring Twenties—a journey that forever changes what her life might have been.
My Review:
I had not read much about the establishing of the circus, and certainly did not know the depth of the history that is contained in this novel.
As you follow the stories of Mable, Rosamund, and others, you find yourself being given a lesson. What kind of a lesson?
It is the tale of the search for oneself that can end you either in a bar under a table, or sometimes at the end of a hangman’s noose. In this case, at the hands of a loving heavenly Father that wants what is best for all of us, if we will only let Him.
We see how with each seeker, they had the chance to change a life, be it their own or another persons. They could choose to wrong them or to give them grace and a hand up.
I found as I read, the real story of Mable and John Ringling was so brilliantly told, that the fiction part of the story was more believable because of that. I forgot who was a real person and who was not. When I read the end, where Ms. Cambron explained her path of research, I found it even more amazing!
Ms. Cambron has a knack and talent for research. While this book started out slowly, and the characters are slower to warm up for you, at the end, you find you are not willing to let them go. It ended too soon, in my opinion, and I found myself craving more.
While there is some romance in this book, it is not the focus of the story. I would recommend this book to high school students and adults.
This book was given to me for review by NetGalley and the publisher. The opinions expressed herein are my own.
