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Circus of Mirrors by Julie Owen Moylan
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Circus of Mirrors

by Julie Owen Moylan
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Narrator Kristin Atherton

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Length 10 hours 26 minutes
Language English
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Brought to you by Penguin.

BERLIN, 1926: After the death of their parents, sisters Leni and Annette only have each other. Desperate, but dreaming of better days, Leni finds work at a notorious cabaret: the Babylon Circus.

From the dancer’s barely-there costumes, to the glimmering mirrors that cover the walls, the Babylon Circus is where reality and fantasy merge. For Leni, it’s an overwhelming new world, and she’s happiest hiding in the shadows.

Until she meets the cabaret’s resident pianist, Paul. And so begins a tentative love affair that will play out over the next forty years. But, in a city whose divisions will define a century, can a love born within the feverish walls of the Babylon Circus ever survive? And can the bond between Leni and Annette – tugged in opposite directions of their own – also endure?

In Berlin, two sisters dared to dream of a better life – but where in this dark and dazzling city will they find their true home?

'Julie Owen Moylan writes about mid-20th century women like no-one else'
Laura Price

'Sexy, electrically stylish, and beautiful . . . a glamorous passport to a period we all long to get lost in'
Daisy Buchanan

'An almost unbearably poignant story of missed chances, long-hidden lies and women fighting the odds to grab happiness where they can'
Frances Quinn

'Immersive, tender, simmering with secrets'
Alex Hay

'An all-singing, all-dancing, moving and masterful book about two complex sisters living in incredibly complex times . . . Brilliant.' Anna Mazzola

©2024 Julie Owen Moylan (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Fiction

Julie Owen Moylan is the author of three novels: That Green Eyed Girl, 73 Dove Street and Circus of Mirrors. Her debut novel That Green Eyed Girl was a Waterstones’ Welsh Book of the Month and the official runner up for the prestigious Paul Torday Memorial Prize. It was also shortlisted for Best Debut at the Fingerprint Awards and featured at the Hay Festival as one of its ‘Ten at Ten’. 73 Dove Street was a Waterstones’ Books of 2023 and a Daily Mail Historical Fiction Book of the Year. As a filmmaker Julie won the Celtic Media Award for her graduation film “BabyCakes” before going on to win Best Short Film at the Swansea Film Festival. Her writing and short stories have appeared in a variety of publications including Sunday Express, The Independent, New Welsh Review and Good Housekeeping. She has a Masters in Filmmaking and an additional qualification in Creative Writing & English Literature. Julie is an alumna of the Faber Academy.

Julie can be found on Instagram: @JulieOwenMoylan and her website: JulieOwenMoylan.com

Audiobook details

Author:

Narrator:
Kristin Atherton

ISBN:
9781405969222

Length:
10 hours 26 minutes

Language:
English

Publisher:
Penguin Books Ltd

Publication date:

Edition:
Unabridged

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The perfect last-minute gift

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Limited-time offer

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Reviews

What a brilliant tale of two sisters in Berlin. Atmospheric and the characters and flawed, complex and believable. Julie's best novel yet The sisters are terrific, unsentimentally and vividly portrayed. So, too, is Berlin, filled with menace, glitter and upcoming destruction. Bold and brave and absorbing Immersive, tender, simmering with secrets - and such a richly-drawn portrait of Berlin from 1926 to 1961 What a brilliantly evocative, moving and emotionally affecting read. Leni and Nette's struggles and the twists and turns of their relationship were so well realised and had me absolutely gripped. The Babylon Circus shimmered off the page, I could picture it completely. I raced through the final pages late at night desperate to know what would happen! A tale of two sisters and a city, all three of them so vividly drawn, I felt I knew them. An almost unbearably poignant story of missed chances, long-hidden lies and women fighting the odds to grab happiness where they can. Superbly atmospheric, with convincingly flawed characters that just leap off the page Sexy, electrically stylish, and beautiful - a gorgeous story about sisterhood, and a glamorous, evocative passport to a period we all long to get lost in. Julie's such an incredible writer A sweeping saga of sisterhood, missed chances and a glittering circus sparkles fiercely against mid-20th century Berlin. Gorgeous and poignant. A captivating tale of two sisters that at turns dazzles and devastates Set against the backdrop of the exotic nightclub of the title, The Circus of Mirrors is the story of two sisters, Leni and Annette, and their struggles to survive in a Berlin torn apart by first war, then communism. Moylan has researched her period thoroughly, and her characters are well drawn, drawing the reader on to a heart-breaking conclusion With hints of Atonement, this is an epic novel, spanning decades as it explores with compassion and humanity the relationship of two sisters torn between the love and obligation they feel towards one another, and their desire for freedom and a better life that will split them apart. It’s about secrets and hidden truths and the deep and long-lasting consequences of both. Above all it’s a story of missed opportunity, chance, guilt, love and forgiveness. I devoured this novel with its rich, vivid prose and its complex characters, tossed into conflict and dire circumstances through no fault of their own. A deeply thought-provoking and emotional story I will be thinking of long after I finished the final page. Utterly luminous An all-singing, all-dancing, moving and masterful book about two complex sisters living in incredibly complex times. Mid-twentieth century Berlin and the glittering world of the Babylon Circus are brilliantly evoked and, as always with Julie Owen Moylan's writing, the characters - astutely rendered, flawed and convincing - live with us long after we've closed the book. Brilliant Expand reviews
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