Cirkus - Softcover

Frazee, Patti

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0998480649 ISBN 13: 9780998480640

Publisher: Lynxgazer Publishing, 2018

Synopsis

Published for the first time in paperback, this acclaimed novel is re-released at just the right time in our history. The immigrants of the Borsefsky Brothers Cirkus move through the American Midwest at the turn of the twentieth century. Illusion, gender bending, and magic all play a part in this alluring novel.

Mariana, the fortune teller, makes herself invisible and drifts through the nighttime circus, listening in on conversations and watching over her beloved Shanghai, a fire-breathing dwarf who closely guards his secrets, even from Mariana's second sight. Conjoined twins Atasha and Anna cling to each other and weep for their home and for their mother and father who sold them to the circus. Jakub, the circus manager and husband to Mariana, fears his wife's gifts, grieves his own failures, and drinks to forget it all. The stories and closely guarded histories of the troupe of performers dance around each other until a love affair between Shanghai and Atasha destroys the delicate balance.

As secrets are revealed and old wounds are opened, the consequences are unbearable to some and liberating to others. Lyrically graceful and populated by vividly drawn characters, Cirkus is a haunting novel of devastating heartbreak and exquisite beauty.

About this title

About the Author

Patti Frazee is an editor and publishing consultant. This novel, originally published under the title, Cirkus, was released by Alyson Books in 2006. Patti's second novel, Out of Harmony, was released in January 2012. Her short story, The Number Robber, was published in WaterStone Literary Journal in 2004 and is currently available as a Kindle Short. Frazee received an Honorable Mention in the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice 2005 Emerging Lesbian Writer's Fund. She has a BFA in Theatre from the University of Nebraska (Kearney) and an MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University (St. Paul, MN). Patti lives in Minneapolis with her wife and their dog and cat. She has a large, lovable extended family with five siblings, 14 nieces and nephews, and 16 great nieces and nephews. Visit her website at www.pattifrazee.com

Review

A feast of words and dreams. Frazee's women are passionate spirits as vivid as those in the best fairytales, and still are real--their experiences a raw truth.
--Susan Power, author of The Grass Dancer, Roofwalker, and Sacred Wilderness

The "freaks..". are fully realized, poignantly drawn fictional characters. Conjoined twins Atasha and Anna, in particular, are so intimately portrayed that Frazee herself strikes me as a conjurer, a channeler of separate human experience.
--Alison McGhee, Author of Someday, Shadow Baby, and Never Coming Back

For everyone who has ever dreamed about juggling fire, spinning in space, or falling in love with the girl on the flying trapeze.
--Judith Katz, author of The Escape Artist and Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound

...a whee of a ride...the circus moves from place to place as the loves, losses and longings play out. An unusual story with a celebration of the human experience.

--Glenda Martin, Minnesota Women's Press

About this edition

• Publisher: Lynxgazer Publishing
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 0998480649
• ISBN 13: 9780998480640
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 264