The Circus Rose is a queer re-telling of Snow White and Rose Red fairy tales told in the alternating perspective of twin teen sisters, Ivory and Rose. Ivory writes in prose; Rose writes in verse. The girls have been raised in the circus by their single mother, the ringmaster of a circus. The girls each have separate fathers but were born within two minutes of each other. Rosie and Ivory have spent their lives in the circus, and have been traveling on tour for years. When they finally return to Port End, the town that is the closest place to home, something has changed: there are flyers all over posted by the Brethren, a fundamentalist religious order. Brethren preachers are seen throughout the community, including in front of the circus ticket booth. When the circus presents its big homecoming show, disaster strikes. From that moment on, the themes darken, circus staff disappear, and despair builds. Ivory is left to salvage the circus with the help of her transgender Faerie sweetheart, Tam.

Faeries have historically been persecuted by the Brethren and this complicates the plot even further. (This novel is a fantasy set in an unknown time period and undetermined location. It is a time before electric lights as gaslights were used in the circus. People travel by ship, wagon, and airship reminiscent of the steampunk Finishing School series by Gail Carriger).

As Ivory and Tam frantically try to track down the missing circus members, including Ivory and Rose’s mother and Rose herself, the battle becomes pitches against the religious extremists. The ending of the novel is reminiscent of thrilling, other-world scenes found in various books in the Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children series.

For those who enjoyed author Betsy Cornwell’s 2015 steampunk version of Cinderella, Mechanica, those who like Steampunk or Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children, The Circus Rose is an excellent choice.

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