Water for Elephants meets The Night Circus in this World War II debut about a magnificent travelling circus, a star-crossed romance, and one girl’s coming-of-age during the darkest of times.

“A powerful reminder that to live is not just to survive, but to be seen and known for ourselves.” –Pam Jenoff, author of The Orphan’s Tale

When all is lost, how do you find the courage to keep moving forward?

1938. Lena Papadopoulos has never quite found her place within the circus, even as the daughter of the extraordinary headlining illusionist, Theo. Brilliant and curious, Lena yearns for the real-world magic of science and medicine, despite the limitations of her wheelchair. Then her unconventional life takes an exciting turn when she rescues Alexandre, an orphan with his own secrets and a mysterious past.

As World War II escalates around them over the years, their friendship blossoms into something deeper while Alexandre trains as the illusionist’s apprentice. But when Theo and Alexandre are arrested and contracted to perform in a model town for Jews set up by the Nazis, Lena is separated from everything she knows. Forced to make her own way, Lena must confront her doubts and dare to believe in the impossible–herself.

At the core of this book is a really beautiful story. I’ll admit I picked it up because of the comparison to Water for Elephants, which I loved, but the only real thing these two books have in common is the circus setting. That’s not a knock at all, but I don’t think the comparison does much to help the book.

Set against the backdrop of World War II Europe, the story follows Lena Papadopoulos from her birth in Greece through her childhood on a traveling circus and into a war that scatters everyone she loves. Lena has used a wheelchair since surviving polio as an infant, and she spends her early years feeling isolated from other kids, finding comfort instead in science and medicine under the circus doctor’s guidance. Everything shifts when she and her father, a famous illusionist named Theo, take in Alexandre, an orphaned boy with a hidden past, after finding him unconscious during a stop in Amsterdam. Alexandre treats Lena like an equal from the start, and their bond deepens over the following years even as the war closes in around them. Eventually Theo and Alexandre are arrested and sent to a Nazi run town built to look like a haven for Jewish prisoners, and Lena is left to build a life without them, not knowing if she’ll ever see either of them again. What follows is years of separation, reinvention, and Lena slowly learning to believe in herself and learning to stand on her own while she continues to long for a reunion with her father and Alexander.

I enjoyed the story and I loved the three main characters. Lena especially had me rooting for her from page one. She’s smart and stubborn and her journey toward believing in herself was one I was deeply invested in.

My main critique is about scope. This book spans a huge chunk of time and with that much ground to cover, I felt like certain plot points didn’t get the depth they deserved. There were moments where I wanted the story to slow down and really sit with what was happening instead of moving on to the next development. It’s not that the book felt rushed exactly, more that there were so many threads packed into the timeline that some of them ended up feeling a little thin compared to how rich they could have been with more room to breathe. A slightly narrower focus, or a bit more space given to fewer key moments, would have elevated this for me. I’m also still not entirely sure how I feel about the final chapter. It felt like it came out of left field and honestly I think the book would have been stronger without it.

Even so, I really enjoyed the overall story. The emotional core between Lena, Theo, and Alexandre is very strong, and the pacing across most of the book kept me engaged despite covering so many years. In my opinion, it’s worth picking up. Just maybe skip that final chapter.

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