Abandoned by her performer parents, mouse is left to fend for herself until serendipity Wilson comes along and takes her under her wing.
Thanks to netgalley I was lucky to receive an ARC of this book.
I was really excited to read this story as I was expecting the magical, fantasy world of the circus, but what you get is much darker. Unfortunately I didn't really connect with the characters and don't feel like I really knew mouse. I found it quite slow and difficult to read at times

Well how to describe this book?!
The story follows an nameless narrator who was born into the circus just after the war to a mother who didn’t want her and was preoccupied by her own life and loves to really raise her. She is taken under the wing of Serendipity Wilson so trains her as a funambulist. The narrator is telling the story of her life in and after the circus to a journalist in the form of a letter taken from her diary entries.
It was a lovely read and an unusual topic. At times I found it hard to follow the plot but it’s definitely worth persevering with as the story especially the ending is lovely.

A Girl Made of Air is a devastating tribute to loneliness and isolation, and a haunting blend of magic realism with the mundane and sordid – the grime beneath the glamour of a circus life.

The story is told by Mouse, the main character, in a letter to an unnamed interviewer, and spans from her earliest remembered memories right up to her current, retirement years. Mouse’s tale of life as a circus child, and later performer, encompasses the folklorish magic of hair that glows like a beacon and the ability to call from mind to mind; myths and legends of mermaids and sirens, and faerie changelings; and the mud, gin and animalistic ruttings that happen in the shadows of the circus wagons. From the heights of her tightrope – dazzling and ethereal – to crawling around, eavesdropping and envying, in the muck, Mouse holds nothing back, combining the intimacy of her confessions with the detachment of a true performer, who isn’t sure where the persona ends and the personality begins.

What comes through most in the story is the aching sadness of it all. Mouse is rejected and isolated, her mother is bitter and burnt out, and even the glorious, glowing Serendipity Wilson isn’t wholly immune to the dragging effect of real life on her fairytale. There is camaraderie aplenty, as the circus folk close around their own like any extended family, but this is a circle of damaged people unwittingly – or sometimes, deliberately – perpetuating the patterns of damage and damaging each other further in the process.

There is love and hope, but Mouse seems unable to grasp or understand them, holding herself taut and stepping her wire lightly through her life, while people love, grieve, laugh and gasp far beneath her. Her story is one of missed chances, poor decisions and regret after regret. And yet, ever the performer, still her show goes on as she weaves her story and presents her greatest performance yet for her smallest audience.

Not a happy, joyful story, but one that stays with the reader, leaving a smell of greasepaint, candyfloss and animal dung, and the vision of a sparkling, solitary figure dancing delicately through the air, forever.

Above everything, this correspondence is a cry for help. You seemed so alive to my stories. Even if you can’t publish everything I write here, even if it’s a long shot. Will you help me?
I’ve little to offer in return, only the story of my life, and the promise of truth.
Let’s begin with hope, then. My words are a labyrinth into which we can wander. AS I write these tales, I can follow each path, each fallen leaf, in the hope they might take me to the person I seek. I’m grateful to have a companion, again.

– Nydia Hetherington, A Girl Made of Air

Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

A captivating tale of a girl born into circus life , her observations, quirks and friendships are told from the perspective of when she is old and re-reading her diaries and journals. How she became a famous trapeze artist and the one big regret in her life that drove her destiny

A Girl Made of Air is told by the Greatest Funambulist That Ever Lived, who we only know as Mouse. Growing up in a post-war circus to a mother who doesn't love her, she grows up feeling abandoned and forgotten. Raised by the other members of the circus, she gets her name from being quiet and shy. She slowly comes out of her shell thanks to her connection with another artist at the circus, Serendipity Wilson. Serendipity Wilson grew up on the Isle of Man and tells Mouse stories of the island and teaches her how to walk the tightrope.

This book is absolutely breathtaking! The story is slow-paced and much darker than I expected. It's utterly heartbreaking in places, but so beautifully written. I was utterly captivated by Nydia's writing style and the voice of our main character. It feels so realistic and full of life. I could believe that this was a real person talking to me about her sad and fantastical life.

A Girl Made of Air begins with Mouse speaking to a journalist for a newspaper interview about her life. After the interview, Mouse decides to uncover her notebooks and delve into her past. There are interludes of Serendipity Wilson's tales and letters that Mouse received over the years. Slowly we uncover Mouse's past and the lives of those around her.

All the characters are very flawed - all make mistakes and choices that I didn't agree with, but they also have great moments too. But this is what makes the story feel so realistic - we all have flaws and do things we aren't proud of. Mouse herself admits she has made mistakes and wonders if things may have been different, blaming herself for the events of the book.

The story itself starts slow but picks up about halfway through when we read the letter from Mouse's mother to her daughter. She details her pre-circus life during WW2. It is heartbreaking and I was shocked by the events of the letter. It definitely put her unkind behaviour into a new perspective and I was filled with sympathy for her. From then on, the pace of the story picks up, and I was swept away into Mouse's world.

Nydia has a beautiful writing style. I loved that it is told from a first-person perspective and it felt like Mouse was sat across a table from me. It's incredibly vivid and descriptive. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of Coney Island, a place I'd love to visit one day. I also loved the inspirational notes from Serendipity Wilson to Mouse, encouraging her to find her voice.

A Girl Made of Air is a stunning debut novel! I was expecting more of the Night Circus but I'd say that the comparison to Angela Carter is better. It is very dark in places, and the whole story is tinged with sadness. Serendipity Wilson's stories of the Isle of Man were a welcome interlude, and added to the fantastical, magical nature of the whole book. I really enjoyed it and can't wait to read more from Nydia in the future!

I’m loving this trend of circus and entertainment POVs. This was a fantastic story filled with magic and drama and I really enjoyed it!

Funambulist.
Poor Mouse, born in the Circus and unwanted by her parents, Fed Lama milk and living on scraps, haphazardly looked after by all the circus family. Her life changes at six years old when Serendipity takes over her care, she feeds and cares for her, tells her stories and teaches her to be a tightrope walker. The circus moves around and we encounter the other characters in the circus, Fautso the owner, Big Gen the accountant both of which are dedicated to Marina, Mouse's mother. Marina is a mermaid and married to Manu the lion tamer.
Serendipity gives birth to a child called Bunny, Serendipity and Mouse loose their close relationship as Serendipity gives into lethargy and depression. Mouse thinks she has solved the problem but her solution leads to heartbreak and anguish.
The last part of the novel takes place in Coney Island and features Dreamland the fascinating home of curiosities, where Mouse at last achieves fame and love,

Sometimes all you can say when you finish a book is ‘Wow’. When that happens I close the book and have a moment of reverence. I need a few moments, in silence, to take in what I’ve read. I often need overnight before I can start a new book. I suppose you could describe it as being haunted - the thought of a scene or a letter in a book that invaded your thoughts when you least expect it. It stays there, sometimes forever, to become a part of you. In the same way a particular aria or love song might forever float through your head. Some books lie on the surface, they pass the time, they amuse, and I do enjoy them but they don’t stay. Others get into your brain, like a complex puzzle you have to keep fiddling with, this way and that, until you find a solution. Some books enter your soul, they make you feel real physical emotions, they make you wonder in the same way you did as a child when a book took you away on a marvellous adventure. They touch you soul deep. This is one of those books.

Nydia Hetherington is a sorceress. She has conjured up this box of terrors and delights from the depths of her imagination and it is incredible. We follow Mouse as she crawls, peeps, stumbles and walks around the incredible show that is a circus. Billed as a tale about the Greatest Funambulist Who Ever Lived I was expecting glitz and glamour, the front of house show. However, the author cleverly goes deeper than that, far behind the curtain. Incredible descriptive passages draw us in to Mouse’s world from the smell near the big cats enclosure, the feel of a llama’s fur against your skin, the cramped but colourful quarters of the circus folk and the volatile relationship between her mother Marina and father Manu. So focussed on each other, her parents seem barely aware of her existence as she watches the drab and grubby circus folk become stars of the ring with their make-up, sequins and feathers. Her freedom gives us access to every part of this wondrous world, but freedom has its dark side and for Mouse this is really a tale of parental neglect. She is brought up by the circus, by the mother of the company Big Gen and her husband Fausto and eventually by Serendipity Wilson, the flame haired high wire artists who takes Mouse under her wing. Under her tuition Mouse becomes an incredible tightrope walker, able to take her place under the spotlight like her parents.

Serendipity with her flaming hair that glows like amber is from the Isle of Man and brings with her all the mythology of the islands. She weaves incredible stories for Mouse, who now sleeps in her wigwam, in much the same way as mystical fog weaves around her according to her mood. She thinks that Manu and Marina barely notice she’s gone, but Manu enlists her help to get Marina performing again. They coax her into the tank to perform as a mermaid for the crowd. Even so, there is no discernible warmth between Mouse and her mother, Marina’s focus is always inward to her own problems. It is after her mother’s death that Mouse is handed a letter from her mother, in which she admits to never feeling love for her child and explains why. For me this was the most powerful part of the book, and brought me to tears. The author has cleverly placed this moment of stark reality within the magic and it gives the letter huge emotional impact. It hits home the idea that all freedom has a price. Mouse has never had a mother, except the warmth and care she’s had from Serendipity and never questions whether that will change.

Book ending these stories is an elderly Mouse, recounting these stories to a journalist. Living in New York, she recalls her arrival in the city and her expectations of Coney Island. She is older and recounts her past from a distance, but what comes across is terrible regret and sorrow around the disappearance of a child from the circus family. She is haunted by a flame haired Serendipity Wilson who, like all mothers, lives on as a voice in Mouse’s head; her inner critic commenting on all she does, only silent when Mouse truly lives in the moment. It’s in these sections that we see what the book is truly about. I expected a book about the spectacle of the circus, the showmanship and all that glitters. Instead this is a meditation on what it is to be human. The journalist asks the questions that go beneath Mouse’s surface and see the gritty truth; we are all flawed and we all make mistakes. This is a beguiling mix of myth, magic and human frailty. Truly brilliant.

Roll up roll up for a circus adventure like no other!
This book follows the story of Mouse (we never find out her real name); the greatest funambulist that ever lived. Born into a post-war circus family she is unwanted and neglected. Her only friend is a llama called Solomon until Serendipity Wilson comes along and changes Mouse's life forever.
This book is spellbinding, fast paced, captivating, beautifully written and almost poetic at times. The start is a little slow but persevere and you'll be rewarded greatly!

A Girl Made of Air was a really great book. Beautifully written with the magic of the circus and old folk tales of fairies and giants, I found it really enjoyable.

The way they book is written is enjoyable; beginning first as an interview for a newspaper and then progressing on to a long letter written by "The Greatest Funambulist Who Ever Lived", the letter that explains the life story of our lead character and the friends, family and characters she met along the way. Great characters with wonderfully written scenes, locations and characters add to what is already a wonderful little plot.

Pleasantly different and with an air of fantasy and make-believe, it won't be for everyone however I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley, Nydia Hetherington and Quercus Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley for my ARC of this book!
I finished this book a few days ago and havent written my review until now because I'm not sure how I feel about it.
At first I struggled to get into it and connect with the characters, found myself plodding along, however as the story went on and you got brought into the lives of Serenity Wilson and Mouse as we know the narrator I started to enjoy it more.
It started off as a sort of The Night Circus vibe, which I loved when i read it, however this one didnt engage with me as much at the time, although the story has stayed with me since finishing it.
I got to know and enjoy the characters and I really liked the ending but it wasnt a book that made me go WOW! or made me fall in love with it, however it is a beautiful book and story and I would recommend it.
It was heartwarming yet also emotional, had tears in my eyes in a few places without saying what or why.
I couldn't vividly picture the scene or fully fall into this book,which is why I have ummed and ahhhhed about what rating to give it!
Have given it 4stars as I just really enjoyed it, despite missing that spark that makes me fall in love with a book.

I fell in love with the cover, adverts and blurb of this book and longed to love it the same. The first chapter is stunning in its depiction of all the senses of the circus and promised magic it come but I struggled to connect with the main character, Mouse as she grew older. The setting is unusual and clever, with the novel focused on the murky goings on beneath all the glitter of the circus by a kaleidoscope of personalities.
Told in a blend of memoir, letters, and fairy type tales I found it hard to keep up what was happening. It is an exciting debut and I enjoyed the writer's prose so excited to see what the next book will be

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I was really looking forward to reading this, after seeing it compared to The Night Circus, which I loved. It didn't quite hit Morgenstern's heights for me but it was an interesting read. I liked the shifts in time and narrative voice from present day to past, as well as the interjections from other characters. I particularly liked Serendipity Wilson's tales - if they weren't lifted from a book of fables then Hetherington did a great job of evoking the fairy tale tone. The reveal at the end was satisfying, if not completely unexpected, and it also reminded me a lot of Angela Carter's Wise Children in its magic realism.

A must for all fantasy lovers! I saw this advertised as being perfect for those who enjoyed Erin Morgenstern's books, and I definitely agree with this opinion. The story is beautifully layered with stunning touches of magic and fantasy interweaved throughout the plot lines. Every sentence is a stunner! I couldn't wait to dive into this book and once I picked it up I didn't want it to end. It's incredible and I'm sure it'll do incredibly well over the next few weeks and months.

When I saw the plot of this book, I needed to read it ASAP! I am so thankful for a review copy of this book. This book involves both fantasy and historical fiction which is a very interesting mix of genres. I enjoyed this as I have not read enough historical ficiton. The circus setting was well designed and the world building was fab. There was an air of mystery which made me hooked to the story.
“Everyone is the star of their own show, performing for the passing, faceless crowds. We are all clowns.” This quote sums up the story in my opinion. There are so many characters to get to know and a mysterious plot.

I love a book with circus setting, although this one sounds like a lot of fun the reality is completely different. The book is told more like a behind the scenes version. Trigger warning for rape, suicide, alcohol addiction, child birth, grief, depression. Some of them are not very detailed but be aware. I didn't really undersant the message the author wanted to send. I like the protagonist but not enough to care about her and about what happened to her. I liked the writing style and just for that I will keep an eye out for more of her books.

As soon as I saw the absolutely stunning cover of A Girl Made of Air I knew I had to read it. It is Nydia Hetherington's debut novel and it is so haunting and atmospheric that I got goosebumps several times whilst reading it. I have to say that it is quite a strange book, with the story being told through journals, letters and folktales, so it took me a little while to get into it but it is well worth persevering if you struggle to connect at first. It's also a lot darker than you might expect, so you might be disappointed if you're expecting something along the lines of The Greatest Showman; it's more like what The Greatest Showman might have been like if it was a Tim Burton film.

Although the sparkle and shine of the circus is depicted on the front cover this is a dark and terribly sad tale of an unnamed main character, known only as Mouse. Mouse is the daughter of Marina, who dazzles the crowd by swimming with crocodiles, and Manu, the animal trainer. Mouse might as well be invisible as far as Marina and Manu are concerned and the only affection she is shown is from the animals until flame haired funambulist Serendipity Wilson takes Mouse under her wing.

Serendipity Wilson's tales of folklore from the Isle of Man were one of my favourite parts of the book; they reminded me of the film Darby O'Gill and the Little People, although Serendipity Wilson's tales had a much darker edge to them. Some of the stories that Mouse tells are heartbreaking and disturbing and I was so pleased that she had Serendipity Wilson looking out for her, but everything changes when the circus loses one of their own: a young child named Bunny.

Mouse leaves the circus and travels to New York in search of Bunny and when she reaches Coney Island, it really did feel like she had fallen down the rabbit hole with all those rabbity allusions. For me, this part of the book really stood out and it seemed like Nydia Hetherington's writing became more vivid, lyrical and dreamlike as she painted such a colourful picture of a bleak and dilapidated place. It made my heart sing to see Mouse evolving into the strong, confident woman she was always meant to be.

Dark and disturbing in places but completely mesmerising, A Girl Made of Air is a stunning debut from Nydia Hetherington. I think this is a book that will benefit from a re-read to fully experience all the nuances of the story and it's definitely worth picking up a hard copy for that beautiful cover alone.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

I read this for a blog tour.

I have always been fascinated by stories set in circuses, I blame it entirely on Disney's Dumbo animated film and Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus, and there is definitely an element of Fevvers in the protagonist of this story. And not just because they both happen to be funambulists.

The Girl is abandoned by her mother, raised amongst the greasepaint and animal enclosures of a slightly sad fading British travelling circus.

Taken on by the mysterious Serendipity Wilson and taught to walk the high wire, she's drawn into a world of Manx fairy tales and leotards, that all of a sudden come tumbling down.

She then heads on a journey of redemption to New York's famous Coney Island. Her story unravels in a confessional letter to the young journalist who came to interview her.

It's a sad, beautiful, magical tale of big tops, fairies, llamas, and defying gravity.

Underneath the glitter and bright lights reality is harsher and sadder than it seems. Everyone has a story of their own and The Girl sees glimpses of them but caught up in her own tales, she doesn't see the hurt that is hidden within.

I loved the dark, Gothic blend of glory on the wire and tragedy at ground level, the way others stories opened into hers, like Matryoshka stacking dolls.

Nydia Hetherington’s A Girl Made of Air twirled across my Twitter timeline with its stunning cover earlier this summer and, as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to read it.

It’s somehow fitting that we only ever know the book’s narrator—the titular character in A Girl Made of Air—as Mouse and never by her real name. From a very young age, she moves around the circus site much like the small animal from which she takes her nickname. She’s either scuttling from caravan to animal pen and back again or watching the world of the circus, crouched barefoot in the dirt and hidden beneath a wagon.

Despite being born into a famous circus family—both her beautiful but damaged mother and charismatic father perform acts—Mouse has anything but an easy life. Left to her own devices for reasons which only become apparent much later on, she roams the site like a stray until she’s taken in by Serendipity Wilson, the flame-haired funambulist.

Serendipity’s act takes her high above the Big Top crowds but she’s actually a strange mix of enchantress and earth mother. She not only teaches Mouse her act, but also tries to weave a protective web of stories and folklore around the child. Mouse relates these later when she comes to write her own life story in a letter to the journalist who interviews her, and I loved that these are included as separate chapters throughout A Girl Made of Air.

Nydia Hetherington conjures her circus to life through storybook characters like Big Gen and Fausto the Ringmaster, the visually dazzling acts Manu and Marina (Mouse’s parents) perform, and by taking us beyond the lights and noise of the Big Top. We see the circus after it empties of paying customers and before they arrive for the following day’s show and this is where the world of her book largely plays out for the circus years. We slip under the flaps of the Big Top with Mouse, shedding sequinned costumes, removing greasepaint, and tiptoe around barefoot from animal pens to the caravans and wigwams, overhearing snippets of stories and collecting dirt on the soles of our feet.

Mouse recreates her life story from diary entries, interviews, her own memory and memorabilia she’s collected but she’s a flighty character to pin down. It almost feels as if she’s walking another tightrope, weighing each word and balancing what to include with what she omits. It makes you wonder how reliable her recollection is and how much of it is coloured by her formative experiences or driven by her motivation behind relating it now at this stage of her life.

Mouse seems at her most vibrant when she’s performing but we hardly see any of her act until she leaves the circus. Once she steps off that tightrope and comes back down to earth, she dissolves into the shadows again and exists like some kind of haunted ghost woman. But just as Serendipity Wilson once noticed her in the circus, so too do others and when Mouse is drawn to Coney Island—home to the famous funfair— it’s Cubby who finds her. His Aunt Betty owns the most unusual boarding house but it’s one which was simply waiting for Mouse to stumble upon.

A Girl Made of Air takes us on an out-of-bounds tour of the circus world beyond the Big Top, laying bare everything the greasepaint, sequins, lights and flamboyant show usually conceal. It tells a story of abandonment, of love and loss, of the mystery behind a long-lost child with all the associated tragedy and trauma, while quietly piecing together the poignant puzzle of an extraordinary life. A Girl Made of Air is most of all a redemptive love letter, written more in hope of understanding than forgiveness, and I absolutely adored every minute of it.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books for the opportunity to read this arc.

This story was absolutely beautiful. Created through letters, stories and the narrator and main character's words, I was completely encaptured and immersed in the tale of the woman with flame-like hair and the child that got away.

It was so interesting to read the setting of the circus that the narrator, nicknamed Mouse by those of the circus, has provided. And a life in which she feels alone until Serenity Williams walks into her life and changes it forever.

The characterisation and character growth within this book is absolutely impeccable. Even the side characters such as Mouse's parents and the other circus actors all felt like they belonged to the story and had something to share and contribute.

I had the pleasure to also listen to the audiobook and that extra aspect completely changed my experience.

A beautiful book of a Fumbalmentalist in a world where she once felt like she didn't belong, now chasing the ghosts that have completely changed her life.