The Circus in Winter
By Cathy Day
Tags: Circus, Fiction, History
-
Started reading:
August 27, 2007
-
Finished reading:
August 31, 2007
Review
“The Circus in Winter” is a beautiful and incredibly quick read that I started and finished during my Egypt trip. Based in the fictional town of Lima, Indiana, “Winter” is a series of related stories told by and about the residents of this Midwestern town where the circus spent its winters. Spanning several generations, the stories create a circus family tree of sorts — a skeleton of Lima’s past and present onto which certain appendages and organs are fleshed out in wonderful detail.
Honest and insightful, these stories and their fictional town are obviously based on the author’s hometown of Peru, Indiana. She even provides commentary on the pictures that accompany each chapter, which clearly address the historical basis for many of the character’s stories. While not a history lesson by any means, it IS a small window into another time, and is one of those rare little gems that feels both fresh and lived-in at the same time. A very enjoyable read!

