April reading theme: Circus Reads

While many Australian teenagers have dreamed of joining a travelling circus, Norma Brophy wanted to run away from it. As a born and bred 'show person', she adored her early years on the road, running wild in town after town with her fellow little 'showies'. But growing up backstage of a famed tra...

It's a busy time of year for Lord James Harrington and his wife Beth. Their good friends Bert and Gladys are getting married; James has a school reunion to attend; and he and Beth have entered the London-to-Brighton veteran car run.Before that, there's the Michaelmas Fair in the village to enjoy....

Upstairs, Madam is planning the party of the season. Downstairs, the servants are plotting the heist of the century. London, 1905. When Mrs King, housekeeper to the most illustrious home in Mayfair, is suddenly dismissed after years of loyal service, she knows just who to recruit to help her take...

Apollo and Thelma is the astonishing true story of Thelma and her brother Paul, 'The Mighty Apollo'. Their twisting tales take author and broadcaster Jon Faine from Melbourne's depression-era slums to the harsh, unforgiving landscape of the Australian outback. Jon revisits the feats of Apollo, a ...

Phryne Fisher is bored. But is she tired enough to leave her identity, home and family behind to join Farrell's travelling circus? Strange things have been happening there and when Phryne is asked by her friends Samson the Strong Man and Doreen the Snake Woman to help, curiosity gets the better o...

Before Josephine Brown began working as a blade expert for Farnham's Fantastical Female Fayre, she'd never stayed put for long. She'd never had friends, either. Nor had she allowed herself to open her heart to a man. Yet now, as part owner of the circus, she's suddenly forming real friendships. A...

To Andy and his parents, it looks like any other carnival: creaking ghost train, rusty rollercoaster and circus performers. But of course it isn't. Drawn to the hall of mirrors, Andy enters and is hypnotised by the many selves staring back at him. Sometime later, one of those selves walks out and...

This is the story of The Greatest Funambulist Who Ever Lived... Born into a post-war circus family, our nameless star was unwanted and forgotten, abandoned in the shadows of the big top. until the bright light of Serendipity Wilson threw her into focus. Now an adult, haunted by an incident in whi...

"The hour is late. The candle is low. Tomorrow I will see whether it is my friends or a ship homewards I meet. But I must finish my story for you first. My future, my descendant, my mokopuna". So begins the tale of James Poneke - orphaned son of a chief, ardent student of English, wide-eyed survi...

1911: Sydney, Australia. From the moment the tumours appeared on her face, Maggie Bright knew she would never live a normal life. Abandoned by her mother and then given away by her father, she spent her childhood learning to become the 'Lagoon Creature': part acrobat, part clown, part circus hand...