Title: The Life She Was Given
By: Ellen Marie Wiseman
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 356
Release Date: July 25th, 2017
Publisher:
Audience: Adult
Summary from Goodreads:
On a summer evening in 1931, Lilly Blackwood glimpses circus lights from the grimy window of her attic bedroom. Lilly isn't allowed to explore the meadows around Blackwood Manor. She's never even ventured beyond her narrow room. Momma insists it's for Lilly's own protection, that people would be afraid if they saw her. But on this unforgettable night, Lilly is taken outside for the first time--and sold to the circus sideshow.
More than two decades later, nineteen-year-old Julia Blackwood has inherited her parents' estate and horse farm. For Julia, home was an unhappy place full of strict rules and forbidden rooms, and she hopes that returning might erase those painful memories. Instead, she becomes immersed in a mystery involving a hidden attic room and photos of circus scenes featuring a striking young girl.
At first, The Barlow Brothers' Circus is just another prison for Lilly. But in this rag-tag, sometimes brutal world, Lilly discovers strength, friendship, and a rare affinity for animals. Soon, thanks to elephants Pepper and JoJo and their handler, Cole, Lilly is no longer a sideshow spectacle but the circus's biggest attraction. . .until tragedy and cruelty collide. It will fall to Julia to learn the truth about Lilly's fate and her family's shocking betrayal, and find a way to make Blackwood Manor into a place of healing at last.
Moving between Julia and Lilly's stories, Ellen Marie Wiseman portrays two extraordinary, very different women in a novel that, while tender and heartbreaking, offers moments of joy and indomitable hope.
Review: Secrets, elephants, true love, and albinos. This book is the ultimate 1930's circus read. I absolutely loved this story.
Right off the bat you know that something is a miss. The whole book takes you on a ride as Lilly Blackwood struggles to survive the life of a freak in the traveling circus. We also follow the story of Julia Blackwood as she finds out that her parents have been keeping a dark secret from her. The two stories collide at the end of the book in a heartbreaking twist you wont see coming.
I read this book in one day. It was that good. Read it. You won't be disappointed.
Received an
advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
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