The Circus Train

October 1, 2022

DEBUT Inspired by the Golden Age of Magic, Parikh sets her beguiling novel of illusions and secrets on the rails. The World of Wonders is a travelling circus that features all manners of diverse people with unusual talents--one of them is Theo Papadopoulos, a master illusionist who keeps as many secrets as his acts conceal. His daughter, Lena, has polio. She wheels her chair through the exciting carriages with their eclectic performers, though she's constantly reminded that she doesn't quite fit in. When Alexandre, a young Jewish boy, stows away on the train to escape the Nazis, Parikh sets in motion a multilevel story of friendship, love, and survival spanning the World War II era. Parikh's prose is occasionally heavy on summary and clich�s, but her research into circuses, concentration camps, and disability all provide a keen historical realism to her characters and events. Indeed, it is Parikh's sensitive eye toward the reality of living with polio in the 1930s to 1950s that is the real heart of this romantic tale. VERDICT For readers who love a good circus, this debut keeps a long story on track, with a few hairpin turns to make it interesting.--Peggy Kurkowski

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October 17, 2022
Parikh debuts with a fascinating story of a traveling circus in Europe during WWII. After illusionist Theo Papadopoulos’s wife dies in childbirth in Greece, he raises their daughter. Lena, who uses a wheelchair after a case of polio, feels isolated as a preteen until she finds companionship with Alexandre Robichaud, an orphaned Jewish boy hiding in the circus’s train as it crosses Amsterdam in 1938. By 1942, Lena and Alexandre’s friendship has blossomed into romance. Then, circus owner Horace learns of Theo’s plans to leave the circus to seek asylum for himself and Lena in the U.S. Enraged, Horace allows the S.S. into the train to capture Theo for hiding alleged fugitive Alexandre, leading to Theo and Alexandre’s internment at the Theresienstadt concentration camp in Czechoslovakia, where they perform as illusionists. Without her father and the friendship of Alexandre, Lena leaves the circus and seeks her former governess Clara in hopes Clara will take her in. Parikh’s extensive historical research adds authenticity to the lives of the circus performers as well as Lena’s disability, and the characters’ arcs highlight the ever-present dangers in WWII Europe and make palpable the strength of friendship. Fans of historical fiction will be drawn to this page-turner. Agent: Therese Coen, Hardman & Swainson.

October 15, 2022
The ambitious daughter of a famous illusionist grows up aboard a circus traveling through Europe--till the arrival of World War II throws her world into chaos. Even within the traveling circus she's always called home, Lena Papadopoulos has always felt different. Dependent on a wheelchair after a harrowing infant case of polio that also left her motherless, Lena has never been accepted by the other circus children; instead of playing with them, she spends her time reading and attending museum exhibits with her doting, overbearing father, Theo. Only within her studies does Lena feel truly at home--a brilliant student, she's especially drawn to medicine and science, which is, she thinks, "where the real magic lay." She passes her days poring over complicated anatomical diagrams and playing in the circus train's hiding places--till the arrival of a runaway named Alexandre, whose unconscious body Lena stumbles across one day. Like Lena, Alexandre is an outsider--a Jew and an orphan--and, as he recovers from an illness aboard the train, he and Lena become fast friends over marathon games of gin rummy and shared snacks. Meanwhile, Theo takes wily Alexandre under his wing as an apprentice illusionist. But just as Lena's life begins looking up, the circus's crowds thin with Europe teetering on the precipice of war. And soon after Alexandre's identifying papers go missing from the circus master's office, SS officers capture Alexandre and Theo, whose parting words to his daughter--"I will find you. I promise"--echo in Lena's ears for years to come. While Lena struggles to accept her father's and Alexandre's presumed deaths (unbeknownst to her, the two have been contracted to work as entertainers in a "model town" for Jews), all three fight to survive. Immersive and intricately plotted, this novel brings to life the precarious, colorful world of circus performance in prewar Europe, where nothing is as it seems, danger lurks around every corner, and success is a matter of confidence, luck, and risk. Lena, Alexandre, and Theo are lovable characters, each backed by three-dimensional backstories that expand and intersect satisfyingly as the novel progresses. Though the romantic thread is underdeveloped, Parikh has created a carefully researched historical debut whose bighearted, sensitive protagonist makes the reader's emotional journey well worth it. Lively and richly detailed.

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November 1, 2022
One expects circus-themed novels to be escapist entertainment filled with interesting characters. Parikh's debut, a Canadian best-seller, satisfies on that score, and it also thoughtfully explores two young people's connection and quests for belonging. In the 1930s, Lena Papadopoulos, whose overprotective father Theo is a brilliant illusionist, spends her childhood traveling across Europe with the World of Wonders. But as a polio survivor using a wheelchair, Lena doesn't fit in, and her self-esteem suffers. At nine, she rescues an older Jewish boy, Alexandre, who becomes Theo's apprentice. Alexandre and Lena become close friends, but secrets reside within both their families. As Europe grows darker, terrible circumstances force them apart and leave Lena to forge her path alone. The circus train is the novel's backdrop, not the starring attraction, and much about its operation goes unexplained; at times, the story feels light on descriptive details. But by incorporating research into medical treatments for polio and the Theresienstadt camp's role in Nazi propaganda, Parikh creates storytelling magic in her absorbing tale of a young woman discovering her own capabilities.

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