Wonder Show

by Hannah Barnaby

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, step inside Mosco’s Traveling Wonder Show, a menagerie of human curiosities and misfits guaranteed to astound and amaze! But perhaps the strangest act of Mosco’s display is Portia Remini, a normal among the freaks, on the run from McGreavy’s Home for Wayward Girls, where Mister watches and waits. He said he would always find Portia, that she could never leave. Free at last, Portia begins a new life on the bally, seeking answers about her father’s disappearance. Will she find him before Mister finds her? It’s a story for the ages, and like everyone who enters the Wonder Show, Portia will never be the same.

Genres: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Middle Grade, Fantasy, Teen

274 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Hannah Barnaby is a former children's book editor and indie bookseller, and was the first-ever Children's Writer-in-Residence at the Boston Public Library. Her debut young adult novel, Wonder Show, was a William C. Morris Award finalist, and her second novel, Some of the Parts, received a starred review from Publisher's Weekly. Hannah makes her double picture book debut in 2017 with Bad Guy, illustrated by Mike Yamada, and Garcia and Colette Go Exploring, illustrated by Andrew Joyner. Hannah lives in Charlottesville, VA with her family.

Reviews

[Jessie Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read This Review & More Like It On My Blog!

I knew pretty early on that I was really going to enjoy this fairly short novel - and I was repeatedly proven right while reading this charming debut. Though Hannah Barnaby and therefore Portia's tale is a bit short on action and long on character (like another recently released circus themed novel...), I was hooked from chapter one and Portia herself. I felt that the final conflict lacked a bit of emotional pull or immediacy but nearly everything else from this look into Mosco's Traveling Wonder Show was pure fun to read. I'm happy to say that Hannah Barnaby emerges from her first novel as a solid and compelling storyteller with a flair for the dramatic and the unique - just like her indomitable lead.

Portia is a flawed but very likeable protagonist; though her story is mostly told in third-person omniscient and occasionally oddly features other first-person perspective important characters, Portia is the strongest, most developed character of the lot. While I truly disliked the shifts between first and third perspectives it's easy to fall into any narrative in the story, be it P's or the Jackal, or Gideon or even Mosco. Portia made me laugh, but mostly and most importantly, Portia made me care about her story; made me invest in her happiness and actively cheer for her success and lament over her losses. Her inquisitive nature and love of words ("Stories came easily to Portia. Lies came even more easily and more often." - p. 13 ARC) endeared her to me rather quickly and her adventures with Aunt Sophie and subsequent misadventures at the McGreavey Home for Wayward Girls only impressed me with her spirit and liveliness.

While the 'freaks' advertised for the Gallery of Human Oddities didn't quite live up to the hype of the synopsis and blurb, I am not disappointed; rather instead, I believe that is the whole point of Wonder Show - that those who society considers freaks are really just people like us, living the hand they are dealt. In fact, the only truly freakish character within the entirety of Wonder Show is the antagonist of the piece, ominously referred to only as "The Mister" - someone not hidden away and hated on principle but someone trusted with power and the futures of young girls. The other characters, thoguh they don't compel like Portia or creep you out like Mister, each have believable and distinct voices. Like Portia, the population of the Wonder Show is at large on the run from something/time/one they'd like to forget, or change. While no two characters plot was the same outside of Portia I found the Jackal and the deteriorating Marvel family to be the most accessible. In fact, while I was far from a fan of the weirdly switching POV's used to alternate character inner monologues (not person to person but 3rd omniscient to 1st), I wouldn't have hated an even longer look into those characters.

Though I was expecting to be more involved and invested in the ending, I felt it was solid but very much not the climactic, epic tête-à-tête I had been craving because Mister needed his ass kicked anticipating. And I have to admit that though this is a middle-grade novel, it doesn't read like one and I feel that people of all ages would enjoy the adventures and marvels that make Wonder Show so fun to read in the first place. This is a quick read with a large reward for your minimal efforts; full of charm and adventures, Wonder Show is welll... quite wonderful indeed..

[usagi ☆ミ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was really charming, guys. I think a lot of MG female readers are going to relate to Portia's character (especially if they've gone through/are going through what she's gone through), and a lot of the other characters constructed in this wonderful world of the past. Though we're not solidly set in one year, it seems like we're set somewhere between 1935-1941 for the duration of the novel. This is a marvelous world of circus/carney folk (which I LOVE), whose hayday was dying out around this time right before WWII. "Wonder Show" does indeed inspire wonder and insight into this dying art of the ballyhoo and the position of one girl within it, who's also looking for her own place in the world as a whole.

If you've been reading the blog for a bit, you guys know I love anything with circuses. It doesn't matter what kind of circus, or when it's set. So for placing a coming-of-age story within a circus, Barnaby automatically gets a nod for being awesome. We actually have two main arcs within this book - that of Portia's journey to find herself/be found by her father and that of the world of the circus/freakshow, which at this point was dying in the US a slow and sad death. Barnaby doesn't go into too deep a history of the circus industry, but she does talk about past famous acts and acts that always attracted the "rubes" (or rubbernecking normal folk), as well as how the industry for a traveling circus with a freakshow worked in terms of territory. Those parts made for some of the most fascinating reading of the whole book as I'm interested in all of that quite a bit.

And Portia's journey is a satisfying one - Barnaby really emphasizes Portia's question of "Who am I?" from the first page on, and every page where Portia is, continues to emphasize it through little hints scattered throughout the text like so many breadcrumbs. There are so many answers and extensions of this question - "Who am I without my gypsy family but with only my father?", "Who am I without my father?", "Who am I at Mister's House?", "Who am I with Mosco's Circus?" and so forth. At each stage of the book, according to her location, she finds an answer, but it's not enough. Her persistance in her search to become someone other than the girl she used to be was really quite a wonderful read.

The rest of the characters in the novel - even from the least mentioned to the most mentioned are almost as rounded out as Portia is, and overall were given a very real feeling to them. Barnaby manages to do this best, however, once Portia enters the Wonder Show and starts traveling with them. She manages to do it in so few words, which impressed me. And she also gave chapters to extend history to the freaks - which were small but made them feel very tangible as real people. And the matter of Caroline, well...she continues to haunt the story throughout, making Portia ask herself darker questions that I won't spoil here.

So all in all? I really enjoyed this one, guys, and recommend it to late MG/young YA readers, as I think they'll really get the most out of it in terms of the whole coming-of-age theme, but really, any reader at any age will be charmed by Barnaby's wonderous "Wonder Show". "Wonder Show" is out now in North America, so be sure to check it out! It's a really fun read.

(posted to goodreads, shelfari, and birthofanewwitch.wordpress.com)

[Joyce Chua · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED. IT.



The plot, character motivations, the plethora of characters and their unique voices, the setting, the underlying tension throughout the entire story - they all propelled the story and set it clipping at an increasingly urgent pace.

There were some beautiful quotes in there too:

"The ones who left (tapped at the edge of her memory), and the ones who were left behind, everyone in motion like startled birds, trying to find a place to land."

And

"Sometimes promises are even harder to keep than secrets. Promises are easily made - we toss them like coins bound for a fountain and leave them there, under the water, waiting to be retrieved."

And

"Lives only begin once. Stories are much more complicated."



The ending got a little predictable, but was no less masterfully executed. It's the kind of book that you HAVE to read in one shot. I'm definitely reading Barnaby's subsequent books!

[Danielle G · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing.

[Cora Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

So... I can't be bothered typing out all my thoughts on this book so instead, I'm just going to copy and paste and reformat excerpts from a chat between me and Liz. Prepare for a mind vomit:

It was weird. It was the younger side of young adult and toeing this very weird line between younger and older. Almost like it wasn't quite clear on it's intended, age group. I liked the book
It was just there were so many parts where I was like it feels like there almost implying like sexual desire but not because the book is for 12 /13 year olds. (Cue the creepy old guy who owns the children's home and wants to take random 17 year old in the home as his wife) It could just be that I'm in a certain mindset after reading certain other books (eh hem poppy wars), but still... And also writing-wise it felt like it was written for 12/13 year olds and the general theme felt that age but some of the things that happened felt older yet I would still say it was well written.

Anyway, I'm confused. Someone else should read it and tell me if I'm correct or I'm just overthinking/experiencing a culture shock from reading below the level I normally do.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was actually pretty good. I would have loved it if the story was more fleshed out, but I think it was great the way it is. I really liked this story.

[Laura Guilbault · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. I love the cover and the back description sounded fantastic. But unfortunately, I was disappointed.
I liked the beginning and the end, but the middle felt jumbled up and random to me.
What also annoyed me were the chapters with characters talking.
I guess I feel like this book is composed more of characters than an actual, concrete story.

The characters are also not introduced properly. For several chapters in the begging I was confused as to who was talking.

All in all not terrible—most of the characters were very interesting—but the structure of the novel wasn’t very organized.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came across this on accident. I was looking for Wonder through my public libraries digital site and instead of finding the book I needed I found this. Just from the cover I had a feeling that this was going to be an interesting book and I was right.

From the start to the finish it was interesting. I won't say I loved it but I did not hate it. Instead I just liked it.

Most of the time I found myself liking a character than disliking them. It played with my emotions. But in an enjoyable way.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clunky writing and only minor mysteries are featured in this story of an abandoned girl who ends up working in a sideshow, slowly befriending the freaks. I was hoping for more connection to the magician in the circus part, but that didn't happen. Pretty tame and unlikely story for a 14 year old girl traveling with a sideshow.

[Merin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (via NetGalley) for the e-galley of Wonder Show.

When Portia Remini is taken to McGreavey's Home for Wayward Girls and put under the "care" of Mister, the only thing she can think about is escaping and finding her father, who left her when she was young. When a traveling circus-slash-carnival comes through town, Portia decides that the best place to hide from Mister and start her search is as a member of the carnival, where she is one of the so-called "normals" amongst all the circus freaks. And thus begins Portia's search for answers, and most of all, herself.

I really enjoyed this book. I found Portia to be a very real character: a girl who has been deserted and left behind her entire life, who grew up with a love and gift of storytelling, who only wants to find her father and be reunited with him. Instead she's put into a horrible situation at Mister's, and after a terrible event, can no longer stand to be there. So she escapes on a red bicycle and takes shelter with a traveling carnival show. I found her to be so incredibly strong; she has dealt with one blow after another and never gives up hope, even when things seem out of her control and falling apart. Portia was really the strength of this story for me personally, although the entire thing was really well put together.

I also liked the fact that the surrounding characters, from the two girls she becomes closest to at the Home to the various people populating the carnival, were all fleshed-out with their own back stories. I liked the glimpse of what it was really like to be part of the bally of a 1939 circus, which had already reached its heyday and was slowing dying out and winding down. The book is told mostly from Portia's point-of-view, told in third person, but has first person chapters from some of the characters, from Gideon, who becomes Portia's closest friend, to Jim the giant and Jimmy the dwarf. I liked the fact that the third-person voice was always slightly removed, telling it like it was, while the first-person narrative really allowed you to see exactly how the character was feeling. It added something special to the story that just made the book even more engrossing and interesting, and was something I personally hadn't seen before.

This is very much a coming-of-age story, with a very strong, independent female lead who has some weaknesses but never completely allows them to bring her down. It's about the search for a place in the world, someplace you can leave a mark--and someplace to call home. And it's done in a really wonderful way.

Wonder Show is now available from your local bookseller. Definitely check it out.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm. I liked the writing, but the book seemed confused about what it wanted to be, and a bit jumbled. It's seriously dark for a children's book, with questionable content (describing the blowoff, some language, a suicide). But the end is artificially happy, as though after the cavalcade of despair we're supposed to take seriously that a whole circus troupe would abandon its route to save a "normal," and that they could get away with physically attacking an important, if not exactly beloved, figure in the community without repercussion. As a historical fiction about circuses, it's kind of vague and has a lot less details than other books I've read in that genre. Its structure was kind of weird; there was a lot of jumping between narrative viewpoints, which got confusing. I liked the chapters written from the point of view of the freaks, but they were so short. I'd have liked more of their stories. Then there were just a lot of things that seemed pointless. There was just so much potential that ended up wasted. Like, what was with the bicycle? It kept getting mentioned, but was never really important. Or Portia herself. You kept expecting her to do something, to be important in some way. She's the freaking main character. But she just kind of drifted. Even the relationships she formed seemed tenuous--definitely not something worth facing down the bad guy for. Oh, and speaking of the bad guy--why is he there? Why does he have to be so evil? I mean, he could just be indifferent yet possessive--it would have accomplished the same purpose. But we have to hang around his girls' home for a third of the book watching him be horrible. Here's the thing. I liked the various stories, and the way they are written--but they just don't seem to have much to do with each other, which makes for a disjointed book. Maybe the author should consider writing short stories.

[Anna Webster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonder Show is a mixture between Cirque Du Freak and the musical Annie. Porti, the protagonist, who I most likely imagined as much younger than she is supposed to be (she was probably eight or nine in my mind, where I think she was supposed to be fourteen or so), has an overactive imagination, much like myself. But this book creates an excellent dark circus atmosphere with all of the freaks, who, when you really get to know them, aren't freaks at all. Although this is one of those "growing up" stories that I tend to avoid reading because I tend to find them more on the cheesy side, this one covered the topic very well. I also felt like the book had a very large amount of momentum at the beginning, I nearly read half of it in one sitting, but I feel that somewhere along the middle, it just loses it's umph and then it scrambles together at the end. Not to say that it was a poorly thought-out ending, but I felt like for a while in the middle it just slowed down. But overall, a good read.

[Andria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Young Portia runs away from the sinister Home For Wayward Girls and joins up with a traveling circus sideshow, her talent for storytelling earning her a place alongside the carnies, barkers, and assorted Human Oddities as she searches for her family and place in the world. A coming of age story with evil villains, sideshow "freaks," a plucky young heroine and lovely, lyrical writing...WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE?

This is billed as a middle-grade novel, but I would recommend it to certain older teens and adults who enjoy YA and coming of age stories, too. (As I was reading it, Swamplandia! by Karen Russell kept coming to mind.) It's almost too literary for many of the "typical" middle-school students I know, who are often confused and put off by shifting perspectives and voices. This is an exceptional book, though, and the right reader will treasure it as I did. So many sentences were just so beautifully crafted I had to stop, reread and savor them.

[Jenn Mattson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked this novel, which for some reason reminded me of Ray Bradbury - maybe because of the quirky middle-America sort of setting, or the time period - Depression-era, or the quirky characters, or maybe all of that, as well as a nicely Gothic feel - Actually, that may be it: it was a very realistic novel with a Gothic-y, almost supernatural feeling to it. The episodic telling, as well as moving between viewpoint characters within the same story (but in different chapters), also reminded me of Bradbury. Once I started, I couldn't put it down, even though it doesn't move in a traditional plot structure: toward a climax, etc., but instead let the story unfold from different angles (I would have liked to have heard from Portia's parents perspective, actually, but it's not my novel :).) The atmosphere and the characters really gripped me. I didn't feel it was flawless enough to be a five-star, but definitely a great read - especially for the characters and the carnival setting.

[༺Kiki༻ · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you liked this book, you might also enjoy:

✱ Pantomime series

These novels, while not a series, are part of the same world.
✱ The Boneshaker
✱ The Kairos Mechanism
✱ The Broken Lands
✱ Bluecrowne

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a hard time deciding what to rate this book. When I first started reading "Wonder Show," it really turned me off. I wasn't thrilled by the voice of the main character and I was starting to worry that the circus-themed cover was a ruse. (That has happened before. Baiting me with a beautiful circus cover to later find out, no circus.)

Thankfully, this book did deliver, but it takes awhile. If you are first starting it and are getting discouraged, hang in there. The book does get better.

I'm not sure if it was the short chapters or what, but after I got over my initial reaction, I read the entire book in one sitting. And I'm not really sure why. The story was mostly intriguing. Don't expect much action or suspense. It was just a nice story — and that can be refreshing.

[Elizabeth K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was surprisingly solid YA. I don't know why I was so surprised, I guess because the circus/sideshow thing seems overdone. Teen runs away from a home for wayward girls, and talks her way into a job cooking for a sideshow attached to a traveling circus during the Great Depression.

My biggest quibble is that I would have liked to have seen this a little more substantial ... the parts at the home for wayward girls felt too melodramatic, like something out of Lemony Snickett. The parts with the sideshow were great, but at one point, they're talking about the endless days, and then it turns out to be TWO WEEKS. Two weeks? I'm thinking months. Overall, though, the characters were very likeable and the story was emotionally convincing.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a little disappointed with this book as it didn't have quite as much about life with the circus as I thought it might. It didn't even really capture the feeling of the time period and at times I had to remind myself when this was taking place. I'm fascinated by the time period and the circus, but the description of the book made it sound like the reader would experience much more of the life than we really do.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Loved the writing, and the cover art. Portia's mother left long ago, and now her father has left her behind with her aunt who a few years later drops her off at a home for wayward girls. After some sinister discoveries at the home Portia sets off to find her father, and joins up with a traveling wondershow where she lives with the freakshow. That's about all I can describe to you - but it's a great story focusing mostly on character development.

[Evie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Not sure why my expectations weren't high, but nonetheless, this was a quick, fun, different read. The narrative, while I can understand some not caring for it, was one of my favorite parts of this. And the story captured me from beginning to end. Methinks Barnaby is a great storyteller and I eagerly await something else by her.

[em_panada · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh! I wanted to like this book so badly! Don't get me wrong, it had it's good parts, but then I had to stop 61% in. Why? Simply because I did want to read about naked women dancing I understand it's purpose, but WHY, WHY ruin a book with so much darn potential?! And I don't even know the conclusion with her missing father!!! *deletes book* It's just so sad. :(

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Portia is a complex young lady with complex relationships. She's calculating, spirited, thoughtful, funny. And SHE directs the book. Things don't simply happen to her....she takes control of it in a very believable, enticing way. I really felt for her and for the love interest as well as Portia's friend Caroline. Great story, real page turner with beautiful writing.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Not terrible, but the whole story felt kind of half-baked, like all the key ingredients (good characters, an intriguing story line, a strong "voice") were there, but the chef took the whole thing out of the oven too early.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story about a girl who is abandoned by her family to be taken care of by a man at a home for wayward girls. She runs away to join the circus on her search for her family. Gives a look into how the "freaks" of the circus might have lived during the traveling shows of the 1930s.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fifth star is just because it is my kind of book. Slight flaws don't mar the effect for the reader who needs the slightly strange to make reality click.

[☽Brandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the heavy content, I found this to be a fun and lovely read. Portia was such a badass.

[Angie Fehl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not even gonna lie, definitely the cover that initially sucked me in... that, and me being a sucker for a story set in a circus community!

Growing up in the 1920s-30s, Portia Remini, having been abandoned by her parents, is left in the care of her Aunt Sophia. By Portia's teen years, Sophia decides she's not equipped to be her niece's guardian anymore, so she arranges for Portia to be taken in at McGreavey's Wayward School for Girls.

By 1939, young Portia, wanting to escape this so called "school" -- which turns out to be more like a work farm managed by a guy that gives off strong pedo vibes --- steals a bike from McGreavey (often just referred to as "Mister") and takes off to find any trace of her family. Her biggest hope is to find her father, who she vaguely remembers had a tendency to hang with the traveling circus crowd. Portia gets a spot on Mosco's Wonder Show, but in the back of her mind she knows that Mister will always be on the hunt for her, so if she wants the safety of a family, she'll have to make quick work of tracking them down.

Portia bunks up with Violet, who runs the pie car (aka the circus' food service department). Violet prides herself on being "a normal", though her parents and brother all work as one of the circus acts because of their albinism, which Violet does not have. Portia also befriends Gideon, another "normal" who came from a background of wealth until the family lost everything during the Banking Panic of 1933. The other members of the circus crew take a little longer to warm up to the newbie, but eventually everyone (for the most part...with maybe the exception of Violet's brother) comes around to accepting her as one of their own.

The bulk of the story is told from the perspective of Portia's experiences, but occasionally the POV is shifted temporarily to one of the other circus members, who shares their notes as an outside observer to Portia's life.

Most of the chapters are only 1-3 pages long, so the story does move at a nice pace... I just wish Hannah Barnaby had gone a little more in-depth with the world building.

The circus world element doesn't really get going until Part 2 of the story (about 82-83 pages in), and even then the bulk of the scenes, at least for awhile, seem to center around the pie car. While some time is spent going into the details of the various acts of the performers, for the most part the novel focuses more on their behind-the-scenes lives... and even there, it's only passing moments of detail that the reader is offered. I remember getting just slightly beyond the halfway point and still feeling like I didn't know Portia all that well.

Still, it's a fun time to be had. There are great characters here, I just wish I had gotten to know them better.

*Note to parents: If you're at all sensitive about the types of books you want your child reading, be aware that this novel has a light amount of cursing and scenes suggesting that one of the circus acts developed into a secret nude dancing show.

[Sallie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first book I won from a Goodreads First Reads giveaway, and the first ARC I ever received. As Ms. Barnaby was the one who was hosting the giveaway, she sent me a signed ARC of her first novel, and I’m not going to lie, I did a little dance in the post office the day I got it. Ever since I had gone to the circus on my 10th birthday (Barnum and Bailey, I believe), I thought the whole idea of a traveling circus was exciting and interesting. Wonder Show had a lot of good reviews on Goodreads, so I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed with the circus aspect of the story.

The story begins with Portia, who grows up with her father, Max and Aunt Sophia, listening to them and their gypsy neighbors telling stories at all hours of the day. Portia believes in these stories and their power over a captive audience, so she slowly begins to tell stories of her own to her family, who are supportive and listen attentively. Portia lives in a rural area outside of the city Brewster Falls, and you get a very welcoming and loving impression at the beginning of the story. One day, Max and Sophia take Portia to a “freak show,” where Portia learns to associate her stories with actual people, and she sees for the first time that her father might be looking for more with his life, as he is constantly distracted during their trip.

Portia’s father leaves fairly soon after the beginning of the story when Portia is just 13 years old, and as Portia’s aunt is no longer able to support her by herself, she sends Portia to an all girl’s community. “McGreavey Home for Wayward Girls”, run by a male dictator of his own ego, who Portia calls Mister, is where Portia finds herself abandoned and alone with other girls in the same situation. Here is where Portia meets Caroline, a girl who was raised in a wealthy family with a mansion of their own, but was sent here to be looked after. All the girls at the Home, as Portia calls it, are there because their families wanted to dispose of them. I definitely felt pity for these girls living at the Home, as their families not only pay to keep them there in poor living conditions, they are assigned to keep the house in order where Mister lives. Mister himself is a very interesting character, as he was the son of a wealthy woman who was social with the community of Brewster Falls, yet when she passed, he continued the Home, but it developed into a bad place when he became director of the Home. You definitely get a slimy feeling whenever Portia or Caroline interacts with Mister, but it also makes him extremely interesting because he has secrets and he acts very mysterious about everything in the main house the girls manage. During one scene, Portia and Caroline find a hidden room filled with Mister’s belongings and among them was a poison, which Portia wanted Caroline to give to Mister so that the girls would then be free of him. But as Caroline was becoming more and more detached from this world due to the shock of her family abandoning her, she decides to take the poison herself.

After Portia realizes that Mister intends to blame her for Caroline’s death, she runs away on a red bicycle Portia was allowed to use to buy groceries in town for the Home. She finds herself in a town where a traveling freak show/circus are making their way through, and she decides to tag along with the main reason being that she believes her father may just visit another circus show one day as he was in awe of the one they visited, and she’ll be reunited with him again. This theory of Portia’s becomes evident later on in the story that he not only is looking for him, but she wants her father to be looking for her. Whether her father truly did come back to her Aunt Sophia’s house for Portia or if he didn’t, she has this emotional attachment to him returning to her, and no matter what anyone says, she believes in it. It’s almost as if her father finding her is the only reason she continues to live. She works for the circus, introducing the public to the “freaks,” such as the albino family, the bearded lady, the 20 foot tall man, and the conjoined twins (who for an extra fee at the end of the tour put on a short burlesque show). All of these characters are described through Portia’s point of view, so we see them as ordinary people would see those who put on an act for pay. Portia becomes friends with the daughter of the albino family, Violet, who is the odd one in her family as she is not albino, and they band together to push through the chores expected of them as young workers for the circus.

There is a romantic interest for Portia, but it’s slow going and is quite chaste, in my opinion. Gideon, who is a maintenance person of sorts for the circus, is able to see right through Portia’s façade and questions her motives of joining their rag tag team of freaks. Gideon is much older than Portia, but there is still that budding tension between them when they have discussions alone. While the story kept me interested enough with wanting to know if Portia ever reconnects with her father or if Mister ever catches up with her again, I looked forward to Portia and Gideon’s scenes the most. Portia has led such a dingy life that you want something fun or exciting to happen to her. Gideon filled that need for me as a reader.

A fantastic aspect of this story is the descriptions Barnaby uses for the settings, the characters, and the scenes in general. Portia feels like a real person to me, and her interactions feel genuine and concrete, even though the idea of a young girl running away from an orphanage and joining up with a circus always seems a little improbably, I really believed Portia’s efforts and decisions in everything she does. Portia is a wall flower, and she observes all that is around her even when she should be focusing on what’s she’s doing. She is obsessed with the idea of stories and having that perfect audience, yet the way she sees the people in the circus, the public who visit the show, and her family, it seems that what Portia is looking for is a show of her own, with her as the audience. This is why the title really works for me for this story. You associate Wonder Show to the circus she becomes a part of, yet I believe the Wonder Show is the types of experiences Portia encounters and how she handles them.

Being this is Hannah Barnaby’s first novel, and I’m not sure if there is a sequel planned for Wonder Show, I would definitely look into any novels in the future. Taking something that has a slight mystical aspect to it despite it being realistic, Barnaby transformed the runaway circus child into the story of an abandoned girl making her way through a harsh world who doesn't give up.

[Krystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

"They want tragedy, adventure, misfortune for the rich and glory for the poor... and... a little murder doesn't hurt." -Jackal (pg. 113)

I gotta say I was pleasantly surprised by this little book. When I started reading it, I was a little skeptical about it. The writing style is strange and there is very little climax to the overall story. However, there are small gems of brilliance woven within the narration.

The majority of this book is discovery of the characters within the carnival. The conflict itself wasn't anything really reeling, but the author left a cloud of something looming in the back round while she accentuated the characters traits and personalities.

This is definitely one of those descriptive books that paint the picture. As I've stated before, it's one of my favorite qualities in a book, however there is no real relationship formed between Portia and any particular character. It's more like Portia and the group as a whole which makes feeling any real emotion for any of them difficult. This work didn't shake my core, or leave any real lasting impression, but it was a nice Monday morning read.

[Abigail Keating · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book started off by describing Portia's personality and her situation with her parents pretty well. As the book went on the pacing seemed to get worse. In the middle of the book, the author dedicated pages to each character in the circus but nothing happened with the information you were given. The book then introduced plot twists that made no sense. There was no reason for the owner of the wayward girl's house to hire someone to track Portia down and it seemed like an excuse to make him more "evil". The people at the circus then went back to get Portia from the house, but this decision did not fit in with the rest of the story. The author spent most of the story talking about how "people come and go", even using the situation of going through the girls things after she ran away as enforcing this idea. If this was a theme during the book, it does not make sense why they would go so far to get Portia if they are used to people leaving.
Even with some of the flaws in the story, the plot and situation is interesting enough to at least give the book a shot, since some people have different views on how the story went.