Summary
Part II: Illumination
Opening Night I: Inception
Opening night in London is utterly perfect. The air is crisp and cool. The bonfire is ceremoniously lit at midnight and the clock changes and chimes. Unexpectedly, though, the wife of the wildcat tamer goes into labor and delivers two twin babies that night: Winston Aidan Murray and Penelope Aislin Murray. They both have a great deal of red hair and wide blue eyes. Tsukiko calls their hair color “auspicious” but will say no more. The twins end up going by their nicknames of Widget and Poppet, respectively.
Opening Night II: Sparks
Now that Marco knows the venue for the challenge, he is taking on more responsibility with the circus. The scope of his binding is on a scale he has never worked with before. Chandresh is pleased with the bonfire but does not know Marco’s true role in it.
The night of the opening, Marco privately steals away to the courtyard, tosses a leather-bound notebook surreptitiously into the cauldron, and focuses on the flames.
Celia had expected to feel like a poorer version of her father, but she delights in her own performing. Each performance is unique, dictated by the audience. That first night, she endeavors to be helpful, but when the bonfire is lit and the twins are born, a shudder convulses her. Tsukiko looks at her and notes that she is a sensitive person and thus affected by events. Celia does not quite know what she means. Clearly, her opponent has done something, but she does not know how to retaliate.
Opening Night III: Smoke and Mirrors
Chandresh does not enter tents, milling around instead. He could not be more pleased with everything. Things take an odd turn, though, when the bonfire is lit and he stumbles. Tara and Lainie come to his aid and help support him.
When Marco approaches, the sisters try to solicit his help and Marco tells them firmly that Chandresh is fine and in perfectly good health. The sisters realize they do not know much about Marco and find him rather odd.
Oneiromancy
Bailey cannot wait for the sun to set so he can get to the circus once more. His mother tells him to take his sister, but she refuses to go with him, calling it childish.
Bailey wonders if it will seem different this time, and he wonders about the red-haired girl. He thinks it is silly to try to wander around to find her, but he keeps an eye out nonetheless. He buys a mulled cider first and attends the contortionist’s performance.
Afterward, he goes into a tent labeled “Feats of Illustrious Illusion.” He sits down in the darkened tent and realizes that there is suddenly a woman sitting next to him. All of a sudden, a chair across the circle bursts into flame and panic ensues. The woman stands, doffs her coat, tosses it over the fire, and the flames vanish. Now on the chair are white doves. The black silk becomes a top hat.
The audience is stunned. The performance is continuous and Bailey cannot discern when one trick becomes another. He is confused as well, as there are no mirrors or lights. How does she float chairs above the ground? How does she transform a pocket watch from metal to sand?
Outside, Bailey wanders past a living statue, moving excruciatingly slowly. There is a small plaque that reads “In Memorium,” but no one’s name is specified.
Rules of the Game
The dinners continue but A.H. does not return. Marco is frustrated, as it has been over a year without any word. He decides he must reach out, so he carves a series of symbols on his windowsill facing out to the street.
A.H. arrives, but he is angry. Marco says all he wants to know is if he is doing well. A.H. replies he is sufficient. Marco asks if this is how the challenge proceeds: manipulating the circus. He does not understand the rules. All A.H. will advise is to present his skills to the best of his ability and not interfere with the other’s work.
Celia stands in front of the Carousel and her father’s voice behind her says he does not like it. She sighs. He thinks she is reckless for collaborating with Barris on this. She asks if Barris is her opponent, but Hector only has suspicions and does not know. He does not want her working with others since it will drag her down.
Celia is frustrated because, like Marco, she does not understand the game and her father is cagey with his replies—all he will say is that she simply has to be better and stronger than her opponent.
Marco waits breathlessly for Isobel’s letters but is annoyed when they do not mention Celia as much as he would like. He wants to know literally everything about her, but Isobel does not reply and he will not deign to beg her.
A new tent is up. Celia wanders into the Ice Garden and realizes it is her opponent’s tent. Inside, the air is magical and cold. Everything sparkles in white. She cannot fathom how much skill it took to make this and to sustain it; she feels fatigued just thinking about it. She spends the entire night there and does not leave until after the sun rises.
Tasting
Herr Thiessen is on holiday in France when someone suggests he visit the circus. Intrigued, he arrives at the gate and immediately notices his clock. He is pleased that it is still in such excellent working order. He asks the ticket girl whom he can contact about the clock, telling her he made it, and she gives him a card with Chandresh’s information on it.
Perhaps it was the time making the clock, but the circus feels familiar and comfortable to Herr Thiessen. He visits only a fraction of the tents that night, but he is utterly besotted. He visits twice more before returning to Munich and writes Chandresh. He does not know when the circus will come to Germany, but after that, many of his new clocks unconsciously start to look like the one from the circus.
Chaperoned
The Murray twins grow up in the circus and they love it, but they have to be chaperoned when they are young, which they resent. Members of the circus take turns doing this; tonight, it is Celia’s turn. The twins like her, and the three of them wander around the circus together.
Poppet is acting a bit strange, and through a bit of questioning, Celia comes to learn that Poppet can see the future in the stars. Widget can read people’s past on them. Celia thinks to herself that on opening night when the bonfire was lit and the twins were born, something was put in motion that impacted the circus and everyone within it.
Wishing Tree
Marco swiftly enters Isobel’s fortune-telling tent, and, ignoring her questions as to why he is here, asks about the new Wishing Tree and why she did not tell him. She replies that she thought it was his and didn’t have time to write. Marco states that he knows it is Celia’s—he can feel it. Isobel suggests he can manipulate it now, but he says that is not how it works.
Isobel wants to help but all Marco says is to notify him immediately if there is a new tent. On the way out, she says she misses him, but he says nothing in reply.
Later that night, Isobel pulls out her special Marseilles tarot deck, not the one she uses for the circus, and turns over a single card. It has an angel emblazoned on it, and her suppositions are confirmed. She does not return it to the deck.
Atmosphere
The circus pulls into London unobtrusively, and through Celia’s magic (though none of them knows this), it begins to come together for its opening.
That night, Celia is in her backstage suite when Tsukiko comes in and invites her to a social engagement. She agrees and is surprised to see that they are at Chandresh’s house. She’d only been there once before. She knows most of the guests—Barris, the Burgess sisters, Mme. Padva—and the conversation is delightful and diverting.
Later in the evening, a bit of movement catches her eye. She is the only one who would know what it was, so she slips into the sumptuous and shadowed library. There, her father appears (more or less) and berates her for losing focus by being at this gathering. She sighs and tells him to leave. Someone calls her name and she turns to see it is Marco announcing dinner. He smiles at her charmingly and comments that he, too, is distracted by the library often.
At dinner, she amuses herself by guessing at the relationships between the guests. It seems Barris likes one or both of the Burgess sisters, and that Chandresh often stares at Marco. Something about Tara bothers her, though, as if she were haunted by something.
At the end of the night, Celia tells Tsukiko she enjoyed that a lot more than she had expected.
Marco watches Celia leave from the window. Chandresh smiles at him, saying Ms. Bowen is lovely and they must invite her again. Marco is a bit flummoxed but agrees.
Rêveurs
Herr Thiessen cannot contain his glee when he receives a small card with a date and the word “Dresden.” On opening night, he mills around outside with everyone else and feels the palpable excitement in the air. He spends almost every night at the circus and converses frequently with people in town about it. He allows a man from the city paper to publish one of his musings.
Herr Thiessen writes and writes, and his pieces begin to be published all over Europe. In fact, he eventually becomes the unofficial head of something like a club, or a society of lovers of the circus—the rêveurs.
Herr Thiessen is delighted. He shares others’ stories with their permission. A red scarf he wears with a black-and-white outfit starts the trend of rêveurs being distinguished by one red item at the circus.
The rêveurs make good connections within the circus and often know where it will be traveling next, which they communicate to the others via small cards saying “the circus is coming” and whatever date or location they know of at the time.
These people see the details in the big picture. They “ache for it when it is absent” (185) and feel it stirring their souls. The circus knows of and appreciates them, sometimes giving out free treats, or free admission, or doing their best tricks in a performance.
Today, Herr Thiessen is replying to a particularly intriguing letter from a young woman who seems to know the circus in intimate detail. It describes his clock in a way that means she must have watched it for hours on end. Herr Thiessen begins, “Dear Miss Bowen…”
Collaborations
Marco arrives at Mr. Barris’s office for an appointment he made. The circus is about to leave London. All Marco asks is how much Barris knows. Barris looks at him and smiles in delight that Marco must be her opponent. He says that Celia came to him a few years ago, and told him the truth; they collaborated on things such as the Carousel.
Marco asks about the Stargazer but Barris laughs that it is all real, and Marco compliments him for doing his own sort of magic.
Barris assures Marco that he is neutral and would be happy to help if Marco desires it.
Marco tells him that he would indeed like some help with a project.
Barris is waiting for a reply back from Miss Bowen, who he fears will be mad at him, but all she asks if she can make additions. He writes back to tell her that she can: that was the whole point.
Celia walks through a hallway of snow, then chooses a door. Now she is in a shimmering white desert. Her father’s voice behind her says that this is abhorrent: they are not supposed to collaborate. She sighs that it is fine—why not collaborate? Clearly, her opponent has similar skills to her own.
Alone in his flat, Marco constructs rooms from bits of books and wallpaper and letters, making chambers and stairs. He dreams of how Celia will respond.
The Ticking of the Clock
Barris’s assistant calls to him that Miss Burgess is here to see him. Tara enters and wanders around the office, looking at the plans for the circus. She begins to mention numerous things that she thinks are strange about it. She doesn’t quite know how to articulate it, but it is as if she were trapped but doesn’t know what to do, as if she were dreaming. Mr. Barris shrugs and says he has often seen things considered impossible; he does not define parameters anymore. He takes out a business card with the name “A.H.” on it, writes down an address, and tells Tara this figure might help.
The Magician’s Umbrella
On a rainy night when the circus is closed due to inclement weather, Celia steps inside a café. There are a few tables, and Isobel occupies one. Isobel has always been enigmatic to Celia: she seems to know things she doesn’t let on.
Celia joins Isobel and they talk amiably of many topics—not purposefully avoiding the topic of the circus, but not talking of it nonetheless.
After a time, Isobel asks if Celia wants a reading, and Celia consents. She pulls out her Marseilles deck and, to her surprise, Celia notes that one is missing. Isobel does not offer an explanation.
Celia creates an almost invisible veil over the table and Isobel begins. There is La Papessa, the enigmatic Priestess, and that same Bateleur. Isobel tells Celia she carries many burdens, but she is moving toward change and discovery. There is a conflict within her, but it will be revealed soon. Celia asks when, but Isobel can only say very soon—almost immediately. Isobel apologizes for not being clearer. She moves on, saying there is emotion, intense emotion that is almost exciting.
After the women bid their goodbyes, Isobel sits and thinks. Celia’s reading is about the competition, and so much is tied to it in the past and the future.
Outside in the heavy rain, Celia walks, pondering the fortune-teller’s comments. She is distracted for a while, but she begins to realize her clothes are still dry and no drops are affecting her. She is warm as well. She looks at her umbrella in surprise.
A voice calls out to her, saying that Miss Bowen has her umbrella. She turns to see Marco, Chandresh’s assistant. All of a sudden, it becomes clear that he is her opponent, and she is stunned. She is annoyed at herself for not considering him; she had thought it would be someone she knew well. For a moment she is upset, knowing he has always known.
Marco says he would like to speak with her and get a drink. She might, if she were not drowning from the rain. She grins and says that of course he would like to, and that they'll get one another time. She takes her own umbrella and vanishes.
Analysis
In this part of the novel, the circus officially opens, and it is as glorious and fantastic as the reader likely expected it to be. The birth of the twins is an auspicious event, Marco’s curious bonfire is lit, something strange happens with Chandresh, and Celia begins the process of coming into her own as an illusionist.
The circus is the “neutral” venue in which Celia and Marco carry out their competition, which is designing tents/spectacles that are virtuosos of skill, wonder, and enchantment. Again, though, the ambiguity surrounding the competition is vexing to the players. Marco is frustrated that he is kept away from the circus, and Celia is frustrated when she learns who her competitor is and realizes that he has known about her for a long time. Both confront their paternal figures and receive only obfuscation and criticism. It becomes clear that the two competitors are not at all interested in winning and are becoming less allied with their patron than with their own competition. Though they have not yet fallen in love, Marco and Celia are already indelibly bound to each other and to the circus, and their creations are made increasingly with the other person in mind.
It’s not just Marco and Celia who are part of the circus and the game, however: whether they like it or not, the circus’s creators and its participants are affected. On opening night, Chandresh stumbles but Marco states strongly (perhaps too strongly) that he is fine, leading the reader (and the Burgess sisters) to wonder if the young man is hiding something. The twins have their own gifts—Poppet can see the future and Widget can read the past on people—which can be disconcerting, especially, as in Poppet’s case, when she sees something potentially problematic in the stars. It is Tara, though, who expresses her concerns most explicitly. Visiting Barris, she tries to put into words that she is confused: she feels trapped by the circus but is not sure why or how. Barris is less concerned; we realize this is the case because he actually knows what is going on and because he is not the sort of person who is troubled by strangeness or uncertainty.
Morgenstern skillfully contrasts the allure of the circus with its darker undercurrent. Through the eyes of Bailey, Herr Thiessen, and the “you” of the interstitial chapters, readers see the circus as a glorious, meaningful, and mesmerizing place where they can abandon themselves to the magic and the moment. Of the rêveurs, Morgenstern stated in an Chatelaine interview, “When I had the original idea for the circus as a place I knew I wanted to explore it from a variety of angles, and one of those angles was from the perspective of the audience, of course, and I knew it would be a place that inspired that type of ardent fan and they would have their own shared community. I love that aspect of fandom. That spark that ignites when you find another person who loves what you love.”
Despite the glowing accolades from the rêveurs and Morgenstern’s luminous and exhilarating descriptions of the circus offerings, that dark undercurrent is palpable in the novel. Morgenstern explained the “sinister” side in a Goodreads interview: “In playing with the idea of black and white, there needed to be just as much shadow as there was lightness. It also comes from the fact that I love fairytales—the old-school, grim, violent, not dignified fairy tales—where you have that element of violence and darkness. It makes for a more interesting story when you add the element of danger to it.”
