Review by Booklist Review
Lara Barnes grew up hearing tales of her family's long-retired circus, and its allure never faded away for her as an adult. After her fiancé goes missing on their wedding day, she is understandably distraught, especially when it seems her mother knows more about the situation than she lets on. As Lara unravels the mystery with the town's chief of police, she discovers more about her family's past, including a different, secret circus that remains legendary decades after its last performance. Told in alternate perspectives, from Lara in the early 2000s and her great-grandmother Cecile in the secret circus' heyday of the 1920s, the novel's many twists will surely keep readers guessing. While Lara is easy to relate to, it is the supporting cast of characters that truly shines in Sayers' latest (after A Witch in Time, 2020). Cecile's life in the secret circus is interesting enough to fill a novel on its own. The Ladies of the Secret Circus is a delightful blend of supernatural horror and mystery that readers of both genres will enjoy.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
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. In Jazz Age Paris, the Secret Circus is a place of both beauty and horror, unique because it has no physical building and only becomes visible to ticket holders. Twins Cecile and Esmé Cabot are confined to the mysterious world of the circus, where Cecile has always lived in Esmé's shadow. But when Cecile falls for a charming young artist, the affair worsens Cecile and Esmé's already strained relationship and the consequences of their rift stretch through time. In present-day Virginia, Lara Barnes is floored when her fiancé disappears on their wedding day, and, after coming across her great-grandmother's journals, she sets off for Paris in search of answers. There, Lara uncovers both her family's secret past and a curse that has plagued the women in her family for generations. 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. Agent: Roz Foster, Frances Godlin Literary. (Mar.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Sayers's (A Witch in Time) sophomore novel transports listeners between 1920s Paris and the modern-day United States, to tell the story of a cursed family and the mysterious circus that determines the course of their lives. Lara Barnes's life unravels when her fiancé goes missing on their wedding day; it soon becomes clear that his disappearance is part of a troubling pattern that may be connected to Lara's family. Lara's search for answers takes her on a frightening and exhilarating journey to Paris, where she discovers her great-grandmother's journals and unearths secrets about a curse that has plagued her family for generations. Narrator Emily Lawrence taps into the novel's romantic atmosphere and infuses Sayers's lush language with an expressive dreaminess. She effectively conveys the circus's unsettling atmosphere and balances Lara's delight at the circus's wonders with her increasing misgivings about her family's disturbing past. Lawrence's accents are somewhat overdone and inconsistent, which weakens an otherwise strong production. VERDICT Listeners, especially if they're fans of Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus, will be enchanted by this satisfying story of twisted love, exquisite illusions, and the painful weight of unspoken secrets.--Sarah Hashimoto, Jackson Dist. Lib., Jackson, MI
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