Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @marinerbooks for
the review copy of The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson by Ellen Baker.
Have you ever been to the circus? I remember watching
live broadcasts of circuses as a child, but I have never actually been to a
circus. I visited the Circus World Museum in Baraboo Wisconsin which had some
live shows. That is the closest I have got!
If you have been to the circus, what is your favorite act?
Cecily Larson is a ninety-four-year-old woman and
pillar of the community living in Itasca, Minnesota in 2015. After a fall, she
finds herself bed bound and pondering her life. Should she tell her family the
secret she has been keeping her entire life? As a four-year-old, Cecily was dropped
off at an orphanage by her widowed mother who had a new boyfriend who did not
want children. At age seven, she was bought
by a man for a circus act and traveled the Midwest as one of the stars of the
show. When she falls for a new roustabout in the circus in her teens, her life
is about to change forever. How will her hidden life impact her family and
herself?
· I could not put this book down. It was one that I just wanted to take time off work to finish reading.
· This book was described as the Orphan Train meets Water for Elephants, both books I greatly enjoyed. I agree with this assessment.
· I really liked how this was a family drama that goes through time. There was an overall mystery of Cecily’s life and I wanted to know how it all worked out. There is a lot of loss, heartbreak, and love in this novel.
· There are many different viewpoints over time. I liked this. Cecily, her daughter, and granddaughter all have viewpoints. Cecily has a viewpoint both in the past and in 2015. There is also a mysterious other viewpoint that comes in about halfway through the novel. I figured it out right away but was not quite sure of the details until I read further into the story.
· The main theme of this book was really about adoption, losing a child, being given away, babies being stolen, etc.
· The story really made me think about how DNA results can really change people’s lives and understanding of their own history.
· The story also made me really think about unwed mothers and how they were so badly treated in the past.
· I loved learning about Cecily’s time at the circus and how she learned to become an expert horse rider. There was a lot of abuse and a dark side to the circus. I loved how her mentor Isabelle protected her, but I was not prepared for when she turned on her at the end.
· I loved that the circus wintered in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, which is about forty minutes north of where I live. The circus made many stops in and around Wisconsin in familiar locations that were fun to read about.
Favorite Quote: “Cecily felt the collapse like it was
her own hope – a thing she’d been carrying all these years without even
realizing the weight of it.”
Overall, The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson was a
riveting family drama and historical fiction novel that focused on adoption. I agree with the assessment that it is perfect
for fans of The Orphan Train and Water for Elephants.
This sounds really good!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this review with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge