Drama and Romance Under the Big Top

“Circus” depicts the drama and romance, the triumphs and the tragedies, behind-the-scenes of a good old-fashioned American circus making its way through the midwest in 1935. Fonvielle immerses the reader in the unique show business world of the circus and provides a thrilling glimpse of the last days of the old-time traveling tent “Big Top” circuses that would disappear in the coming years after the story is set. The complex and colorful characters and evocative portrait of a time and world long-gone made this a highly enjoyable read.

Read the review and get book details here:

Circus

. . . of my novella Circus.

Excellent read

This was my first time reading one of Lloyd’s stories and I can’t wait to read more from him. Surprised at how attached I was with the characters from such a quick read. Loved the depiction of the good and bad aspects of circus life, felt fair and honest. Hope this isn’t the only story of The Greenbaugh Majestic Circus.

#TeamBap

Review and book info here — Circus.

. . . of my latest novella for the Kindle:

Just wow

What a very fun book with lots of twist and turns. Laughter and tears this book has it all. Two thumbs up

Go here for the review and book details — Circus.

. . . of my novella Circus:

Just like Pagliacci did . . .

But this book doesn’t keep its feelings hid. Fonvielle is brave with his love for his characters and it shows in their movement, their frailty, their beauty, and their courage.

And he loves the “impossible possibilities” he sees in circus life, a traveling world of outsiders, a seemingly romantic world but one truly of the harshest realism, where human nature is laid bare in our desire to believe, and where grace and tragedy can both be found in the sawdust and elephant dung.

If you despise cynicism, appreciate moral complexity, value clear writing and respect pure feeling, read this book.

If you own a Kindle device and subscribe to Amazon Prime, my novella Circus, a romance of the big top, can be borrowed for free from Amazon.  Otherwise it’s just $1.49 — for the Kindle or for free Kindle Reading Apps that work on almost all computers and portable devices, available here!

Ladies and gentlemen — step right up!  The show is starting now!

. . . of my novella Circus, a romance of the big top:

MAGIC

Lloyd Fonvielle’s “Circus” is a magical performance. I say “magical” because it takes the reader into a magical world of imagination, color, longing, and odd triumph. It is the sprawling account of a young boy’s magical encounter with the magical circus, although “sprawling” is really not the right word for it, as the story is so tight that you don’t lose track of a single character. Not for a single second. Everyone is united under Colonel Greenbaugh’s fabulous Big Top!

“Circus” itself is a depiction, in more than one way, of love’s sacrifice: from the complete self-giving of a child to another child, to the unrequited adult loving that comes from a burned-over man. The fact that Fonvielle has told his story of love’s sacrifice within the exotic context of the great American circus, a phenomenon now mostly in the past, puts it at a distance. Yet that very distance of the great American circus from us in 2013 brings home the power of his story in a way that, by the end, completely undoes you.

I did not expect to be jelly at the end of this book. I did not expect to be thrown onto the ground by the characters of ‘Bap’, the Kelly Twins, young Jasper, and Lily. I just didn’t expect it.

I didn’t think a short novel like “Circus” would pack such a cumulative punch. So I’m writing this review in a state of emotional shock. But it feels good.

“Circus” is a masterpiece, not of nostalgia but of the essence of what is noble in us — love that comes to its point in the complete and conscious giving of a human self to another.

Writing a novel, even a short novel, is hard work, but a review like this justifies all of it.

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