It’s Berlin in 1926. After the death of their parents, sisters Leni and Annette only have each other.
Desperate, but dreaming of better days, Leni finds work at a notorious cabaret: the Babylon Circus.
From the dancer’s barely-there costumes, to the glimmering mirrors that cover the walls, the Babylon Circus is where reality and fantasy merge. For Leni, it’s an overwhelming new world, and she’s happiest hiding in the shadows.
Until she meets the cabaret’s resident pianist, Paul. And so begins a tentative love affair that will play out over the next 40 years.
But, in a city whose divisions will define a century, can a love born within the feverish walls of the Babylon Circus ever survive?
And can the bond between Leni and Annette – tugged in opposite directions of their own – also endure?
In Berlin, two sisters dared to dream of a better life. But where in this dark and dazzling city will they find their true home?
Circus of Mirrors by Julie Owen Moylan is published on 12 September, 2024.
Our round-up of over 180 books coming out this year has much more historical fiction to choose from.
