Church of Marvels Lib/E (CD-Audio)

from elam11

This book is like a novelization of a Decemberists' album: circus performers, cross-dressing crossed-in-love prostitutes, unwed mothers, fire, tongues, madhouses... Alphie's last chapter felt a little too pat, though I'm happy she was landing on her feet. I guess her story is one of arriving at t...

from lostinalibrary

The Church of Marvels by author Leslie Parry in set in New York in the late 1890s. This is a world of dirt, disease, noise and squalor, opium dens, brothels, and fight clubs, and where children are often commodities. The tale is told from several different perspectives: -Sylvan, a night-soiler, s...

from JReynolds1959

A baby is found in a privy by a night worker. He brings that baby girl to a friend and this whole story begins. Four main characters lives become so intertwined that you would think that they were known to each other, but that is not the case. This was written so well. Small tie-ins with each cha...

from cathishaw

This is very unique and unusual tale. Shifting points of view through a myriad of characters, Parry tells a story full of mystery and intrigue centred upon a circus family. Odile and Belle are the twins daughters of the mother who started the Church of Marvels, a Coney Island sideshow. And they a...

from seeword

An ok read, circus performers, an undertaker, a night-soiler, a baby broker, stumble around the seedier parts of turn of the century (19th to 20th) New York. Full of strange people, weird coincidences, and grim locals; it didn't really work for me. Library book.