A list of most gothic recent books, I believe it was, that suggested The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. It’s a big book—over 500 pages—so I decided I’d wait until autumn to get underway. It ended up taking most of September and half of October to finish it. Since I prefer to start fresh, I had no idea what it was about. A night circus, of course, as the title indicates. It is set in the late Victorian period, although I’m not sure all the turns of phrase in the book were current at that time. There may be a few spoilers in the description, should you want to go out and read this yourself first. I mention that because something that only becomes clear near the end is a pretty good starting place for giving an idea of what the story’s about.
A very old man (who doesn’t look or act old) is a very accomplished magician (not the stage variety). One of his students becomes very proficient and the two begin a rivalry that involves each setting a protege against that of the other. It is a contest, we eventually learn, to the death. The younger magician selects a daughter he didn’t even know he had, while the original teacher selects a young man without prospects. The battleground on which these two duel is the eponymous night circus. Each tries to outdo the other in creativity and wonder. The circus is open only at night (hence the name) and is fueled by actual magic. A cast of characters gets introduced, and they’re very well drawn. In my experience of reading the book, they drew me back in because you pretty much liked most of them and with magic involved, well, you never know.
The novel was gothic in the Victorian setting and in the sense that there is an ancient contest underway here that interrupts into the then present. There aren’t spooky castles, however, or really even damsels in distress. The women characters are all strong and resilient. The writing is lively and the resolution is satisfying. The real draw for this book is the writing and the complex story that doesn’t overwhelm or leave you feeling too lost. It’s a magical realism with boundaries and offers a good message that magic is all around, if we only open our eyes to it. It’s a good book to get lost in for a few weeks. I appreciated the fact that the villains weren’t the focus and the violence was mostly implied. It kept me turning pages, gothic or not.