Written by Esh Hope
The Greatest Showman hit the theatres at the end of 2017 and it took a lot of us, including myself, by surprise. Filled with music, romance, and most importantly: the journey to self-acceptance, I’m not exaggerating when I say it glued me to my seat.
Of course, with the ending of every movie comes that moment we all dread the most—when you get out of the theatre and you face the terrible realisation that the movie is over and with that, the universe of the film is gone too. There will be no sequels, no new trailer or no cast reunion. The only thing left to do is to stalk every website with a list of movies or books that remind them of the masterpiece you just watched, hoping for at least the chance to mirror the feeling this work of art gave you.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is our list of books that will help you escape to a circus or a world of magic!
The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O’Neill
This book captures the rise of people with big talent and little money. Just like Barnum, these kids take their creativity to the next level and make their way through the hard times to rise above the adversity and life that was designed for them by others. With a couple as touching as Phineas and Charity, this is the closest book I have found to resemble all the action and meaning in The Greatest Showman.
Synopsis | Goodreads
Two babies are abandoned in a Montreal orphanage in the winter of 1910. Before long, their talents emerge: Pierrot is a piano prodigy; Rose lights up even the dreariest room with her dancing and comedy. As they travel around the city performing clown routines, the children fall in love with each other and dream up a plan for the most extraordinary and seductive circus show the world has ever seen. Separated as teenagers, sent off to work as servants during the Great Depression, both descend into the city’s underworld, dabbling in sex, drugs and theft in order to survive. But when Rose and Pierrot finally reunite beneath the snowflakes after years of searching and desperate poverty the possibilities of their childhood dreams are renewed, and they’ll go to extreme lengths to make them come true. Soon, Rose, Pierrot and their troupe of clowns and chorus girls have hit New York, commanding the stage as well as the alleys, and neither the theater nor the underworld will ever look the same.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
In this book the magic of a circus is captured—quite literally. The journey of two magicians to befall one another gets tricky when they actually fall for each other. If you like the circus environment and the battle to rise inside it, plus a good love story like Barnum’s or Phillip’s, this book is for you.
Synopsis | Goodreads
The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway – a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love – a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands. True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.
Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley
Since The Greatest Showman is a family movie, this book is written from a middle grade and children’s point of view. It takes the atmosphere of the circus and its magic, except this time the magic is real. It’s a wonderful tale about the power of family and it made me think of how Barnum’s girls would be picturing his circus.
Synopsis | Goodreads
Do you believe in magic? Micah Tuttle does. Even though his awful Great-Aunt Gertrudis doesn’t approve, Micah believes in the stories his dying Grandpa Ephraim tells him of the magical Circus Mirandus: the invisible tiger guarding the gates, the beautiful flying birdwoman, and the magician more powerful than any other—the Man Who Bends Light. Finally, Grandpa Ephraim offers proof. The Circus is real. And the Lightbender owes Ephraim a miracle. With his friend Jenny Mendoza in tow, Micah sets out to find the Circus and the man he believes will save his grandfather. The only problem is, the Lightbender doesn’t want to keep his promise. And now it’s up to Micah to get the miracle he came for.
Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen
Not only does this book include the circus life, but this beautiful love story between Jacob and Marlena will bring you back memories of Philip and Anne. This book was also adapted for a movie in 2011, starring Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon.
Synopsis | Goodreads
When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, drifters, and misfits, a second-rate circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands in town after endless town. A veterinary student who almost earned his degree, Jacob is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It is there that he meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act, who is married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her.
The Prestige by Christopher Priest
This story doesn’t include a circus, but the story of two magicians trying to rise to fame within the same time period. The battle to overcome each other and the advance of their careers mirrors the struggle of life in The Greatest Showman. This book was also adapted into a movie in 2006 which, coincidentally, or not so much, stars Hugh Jackman.
Synopsis | Goodreads
In 1878, two young stage magicians clash in the dark during the course of a fraudulent séance. From this moment on, their lives become webs of deceit and revelation as they vie to outwit and expose one another. Their rivalry will take them to the peaks of their careers, but with terrible consequences. In the course of pursuing each other’s ruin, they will deploy all the deception their magicians’ craft can command–the highest misdirection and the darkest science. Blood will be spilled, but it will not be enough. In the end, their legacy will pass on for generations…to descendants who must, for their sanity’s sake, untangle the puzzle left to them.
Bonus: The Life of P.T. Barnum by P.T. Barnum
What better way to remain in the universe of The Greatest Showman than reading Phineas Taylor Barnum’s autobiography? This book tells about his journey to fame from his own point of view. If you’re into knowing more about the man Hugh Jackman immortalised, this book is for you.
Synopsis | Goodreads
An autobiography of Phineas T. Barnum that immortalizes the showman who hoodwinked customers into paying to hear the reminiscences of a woman presented as George Washington’s 161-year-old nurse, the impresario who brought Jenny Lind to America and toured Europe with General Tom Thumb, and the grand entrepreneur of the American Museum of New York.
