ABOUT

Nights at the Circus Plot Summary

The relationship between the Jack Walser and Sophia Fevvers starts simply, as that of a reporter interviewing a trapeze artist (aerialiste) and fantasy legend. Walser is a California born reporter, originally aloof to the world of the extraordinary, which Fevvers represents. Fevvers is a famed aerialist, the Cockney Venus, whose claim to this fame is a pair of huge wings that she says she was born with. Their first encounter is subtly combative. Neither trusts the other and both are intrigued at the same time. The first book of the novel outlines Fevvers' past in the form of this interview. She has been through many struggles and has had few real moments of joy.
Fevvers claims to have been hatched from an egg. After hatching, she is found by Lizzie, a woman who worked in a whorehouse run by a woman named Ma Nelson.