This was a good one. It’s well written .Good story .

I was just hoping for a bit more magic but I still give it 4 out of 5.

I do recommend

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this wonderful book. I read this prior to the release date but only now have I realised I had not submitted my review. I'm an Indigo employee - this is my personal review.

I loved this book for the very first chapter to the very last. Amita Parikh has created a work of true beauty and depth, with loveable characters and an engaging story which takes the reader on a journey of self discovery and self empowerment. Dealing with themes that some readers may find triggering or upsetting, we follow the main character Lena as she fights the realities of living with polio and seeks to find her place in the world outside of the circus she grew up in. Packed with adventure, travel, love, hardship and courage, The Circus Train is a delightfully moving and poignant novel set against the backdrop of WW2 and the Holocaust. I highly recommend this novel.

I adored The Circus Train from the start. We meet a young girl named Lena, in a wheelchair from having polio as a baby. Her Father is an Illusionist on a Circus Train that travels through Europe. Trouble starts when the world goes to war and Lena realizes that her life will never be the same.

I really enjoyed this historical fiction debut by Canadian Amita Parikh!

Spanning two decades, this story follows the life of Lena Papadopoulos, a young disabled girl, as she travels Europe on a Circus train with her Illusionist father Theo. Lena lost her mother shortly after her birth and contracted polio as an infant, which left her needing to use a wheelchair.

Marked as different and other from a young age Lena grows up lonely but things change when she rescues and then befriends Alexandre, a Jewish orphan boy who is trying to hide his past as antisemitism spreads across Europe in the wake of WWII. Lena's father takes Alexandre under his wing, training him as an apprentice in the circus but their idyllic life on the circus train comes to a screeching halt when Alexandre and Theo are captured by the Nazis.

One of my favorite parts of the story was learning about "Theresienstadt" - marketed to Jews as a "spa town" but in actuality was a hidden ghetto/concentration camp and it is where Alexandre and Lena's father end up spending a significant portion of the war. I always enjoy discovering new parts of WWII history I'd never heard of before.

Other parts I loved:

- the disability representation and cast of unusually talented characters
- the found family
- the epic romance between Lena and Alexandre that almost feels doomed
- the Circus train itself! I am a sucker for stories about historical circuses!

What I didn't love:

I wasn't a huge fan of how the narrative seemed to celebrate Lena 'overcoming' her disability. She finds someone offering a new Polio treatment and it felt to me like it somewhat 'miraculously' ended up working for her, allowing her to eventually walk again. There is an author's note included at the end of the book that goes into how the story isn't meant to be representative of all Polio experiences and it does do a great job discussing what life for disabled people was like at the time, including how the "Kenny treatment" as it came to be known, did indeed have a high success rate. Personally however I just would have loved to see Lena live her best life as a disabled person for the entirety of the story.

Perfect for fans of The Museum of extraordinary things, The lonely hearts hotel or All the light you cannot see and definitely a book I will be recommending to everyone. Much thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for my advanced review copy!

This book was amazing from beginning to end. I didn't know what to think about it at first because it takes me a lot to get into historical fiction but for this one, it didn't take long. It was so worth it.

This book is full of action and adventure, love and loss, coming of age. The story is set in a circus and in WW2. You won't regret reading this book

I really enjoyed how we got to see each character's story develop and how they all end up wrapped into one at the end of the book. The author did an amazing job and really made you feel the story with her writing. The details in this book are amazing. Also, the book cover is just so beautiful.


Thank you, NetGalley and HarperCollins Canada, HarperCollins Publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Our main character struggles to find her place in the world. Set on a circus train during the time of Nazi occupation. Themes of Hope, endurance and love. Fantastic read

Happy Pub Day to The Circus Train!

All aboard the World of Wonders! Europes most magnificent traveling circus!

I finished this book last night and when I woke up this morning it was the first thing I thought about. That's when you know its a great book! I just know this story will be lingering in my mind for a long time. The Circus Train was definitely the most beautiful, well thought out, magical, mesmerizing and heartbreaking book that I've read so far this year. I absolutely shed tears while reading this and my heart was just so full by the ending.

It has been a while since I read a historical fiction novel and this book was the best one I could possibly have picked up to remind myself about my adoration for historical fiction. The writing and the layout of how this story is told over the span of two decades is perfection. I was shocked to discover that this was Amita Parikh's debut novel. I hope this book lands in everyones hands, every historical fiction reader, every reader who wants to hear the absolutely amazing story of Lena, Theo and Alexandre. These characters will just always be in my heart now.

I can't thank Harper Collins Canada enough for the e-ARC of this book. I will definitely be purchasing a physical copy for my shelves! It deserves all the love, praise and awards out there, 100%.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

I was granted eARC access to The Circus Train by Amita Parikh through my participation in the HarperCollins Canada influencer program. Thank you to all involved in affording me this opportunity! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

The Circus Train is a historical fiction based loosely on real individuals as well as primary source accounts of disability experience during the era. It is set in Europe in the decades surrounding and including WWII and focuses on physically disabled intellectual Lena and half-Jew in hiding Alexandre from their meeting as kids in a travelling circus through their formative years apart and eventually their reunion some years after the war in France.

This book has so many elements that gave me hope it would be an instant favourite for me. I studied history at the undergraduate level specializing in Canadian and British history during the world wars and inter-war years. I love stories about strong women, stories about women doing things society says they shouldn't, and disabled individuals striving to achieve their dreams. I also love circus stories! All the building blocks are here, the content is great, and the plot played out mostly as I hoped it would (though Lena's breakthrough -you'll know what I mean when you read it- felt forced,) I can absolutely see this being adapted to screen and I think this story deserves a lot of acclaim in any format.

Where it falls short for me is the strength of the writing itself. I just finished this book and I have no lingering impression of what anything or anyone looked like. I loved the idea of Lena and Alexandre, but I didn't ever truly feel connected to them, so their ups and downs didn't sway me to feel strong emotions on their behalf. There were a few sequences here and there throughout the book where the narrative voice jumps into summary mode to tell us what that character will do in their present but our past and it's some weird past tense voice version of the future perfect continuous tense. This really jolted me out of the story, it usually felt like unnecessary information, and it felt very "telling, not showing" and rushed. I guess in short what I'm saying is this book needed more descriptions, more emotion, and less superfluous character's future summarization.

Overall I do like the story and I do think it's worth a read if you're into historical fiction or anything of this era set in Europe. If you're here primarily because of that circus element and you're hoping for historical urban fantasy, magical realism, or even just lots of prose in the circus setting, you aren't going to find that here. This isn't The Night Circus or Water for Elephants. The circus is only a vehicle to move the plot along and barely even gets a mention by the end of the book. If you're here for a strong, well-researched story set in the decades surrounding WWII in Europe and a will-they, won't-they romance, this is it. Read it!

This book description caught my attention right away, but as soon as I started reading, the story itself drew me in and I just couldn’t put it down! A young girl confined to a wheelchair because of polio meets a young Jewish orphan boy who hides on the circus train and their lives become intertwined. With compelling characters and an unusual take on a time period that often feels overdone, I would definitely recommend this to readers who enjoy historical fiction. Such a beautiful and uplifting story!

I’m not usually a fan of historical fiction, but this one was captivating and kept me interested the whole way through. There was magic, mystery, and a beautiful love story all amidst a backdrop of one of the darkest and most hateful parts of our human history. The story being revealed slowly over time - and not in quite the way I expected - made this book exciting and hard to put down! And the revelations made me want to reread the story with this new understanding of the depth of the characters. As I was reading I could picture the story in my mind - as if it were a movie. An all around excellent book and I can’t wait to read more from this author.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd for allowing me to read a copy of this eArc in exchange for an honest review.

Debut novel from Canadian writer Amita Parikh, The Circus Train is a 5 star read! It is full of action and adventure, love and loss, found family and coming of age. Set with the backdrop of a circus, trains, and WW2, the story delivers characters that you immediately fall in love with. Lena, Theo, and Alexandre will become like members of your own family. I can't wait for this book to come out on March 22, 2022 so I can grab my own copy. Each chapter page has gorgeous stars cascading down the page. A really gorgeous book through and through!

Despite growing up on a circus train, surrounded by performers and raised by a caring illusionist father, Lena Papadopoulos has always felt alone. As a baby, she caught polio which left her bound to a wheelchair. She spends her days learning from her governess and the doctor, absorbing every bit of science and medical knowledge she can. Then she finds orphan Alexandre unconscious on the train and her life changes. Lena finds a best friend in the mysterious boy who becomes her father’s apprentice and that only grows as the years go on.

I’ve read A LOT of WWII books, but I’ve never read one like this. The war isn’t at the forefront, it isn’t about soldiers or nurses or the fighting. It was so different and so amazing!

We follow Lena from the age of nine to twenty-four, watching her grow with the help of Alexandre. She becomes more confident and happier and her character is developed beautifully. And everyone needs a friend like Alexandre! He helps her follow her dreams and proves to her – and others – that she is capable of so much more. Their relationship is incredibly charming.

The book was full of twists and turns, keeping me on my toes and constantly wondering what was going to happen next – so much so that I read it in a single day. The relationships and interactions between characters were so real that my heart felt as though it was constantly breaking and being put back together.

This was a wonderful debut novel and I’ll be keeping an eye out for further works by the author.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Canada for the opportunity to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a good story, I had read some reviews where it was compared to The Night Circus, but I didn't see that comparison, other than a train was involved in both stories, the story arc is vastly different. This story starts off in the years prior to WW2, Lena is the daughter of a celebrated illusionist, Theo, who works for the World of Wonders circus, a circus that travels around on a train. She has polio something she contracted at a young age, in the first part of the book she uses a wheelchair to navigate around the train. She spends her days learning from a tutor/governess and a doctor who treats her polio and her overall health. Alexandre, a young stowaway, is discovered and eventually offered a position as a apprentice to Theo which he accepts. He also becomes friends with Lena, the first real friend that she's had, most other children avoid her or make fun of her. Advances in polio treatment are applied to Lena and over time she is able to leave her wheelchair and walk with the assistance of crutches. There is also the threat of WW2 hanging over the circus, they are stopped by the Nazi's at borders for 'inspections' and usually can proceed after a bribe of food/money. The years go by and the war worsens, Alex and Lena have become very close, they are both attracted to each other and are yearning to act on it. Until the war intervenes again, I won't spoil the next part, it was very heart wrenching to read what happens to them. Overall a very good book and I would recommend. Thank you to #Netgalley and #HarperCollins for the ARC

REVIEW
5 dazzling stars for this historical circus/WWII fictional drama! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️The synopsis does not do this story justice. This rarity of a novel left me most pleasantly surprised! 🤩
✔️travelling circus
✔️mesmerizing circus performers
✔️loveable characters
✔️despicable villain
✔️tragedy and romance
✔️page turner
✔️plot twists
Just when you think the show is over, prepare yourself for a grande finale that will leave you speechless 🤯 and begging for more! This gem of a novel will be in stores on March 22, 2022.
Bravo Amita Parikh on this spectacular debut novel! 🥰👏🏻
Thank you to @netgalley and @harpercollinsca for providing me with this eARC. Now somebody please send me the paper copy so I can proudly display it on my shelf and brag about it to everyone who stops by.
#booksofHCC #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #canadianbookstagrammer #thecircustrain #goodreads #netgalley #harpercollinscanada #harpercollins

Lena Papadopoulos has grown up amongst the strange and wonderful and aches to be a part of the circus entourage like her father, but Lena had polio as a baby and is bound to her wheelchair.

Her father nourishes Lena’s insatiable curiosity for the sciences hoping to alleviate her loneliness, but it isn’t until she finds a young stowaway onboard, that Lena truly feels alive.

Set on the cusp of WWII, this immersive story is one of hope, heartache, and faith with the rich backdrop of circus life. The author does a fantastic job of creating the mystical feel of the World of Wonders train, as well as giving us an outstanding array of interesting, multidimensional characters with plenty of secrets to be unraveled.

I particularly loved the devotion between Lena and her father. He never saw her disability as anything to slow his daughter down in life and fought to give her the best chance he could.

This is a must-read!

A delightful debut in the highly competitive historical fiction genre.

Our heroine Lena travels across Europe on the "World of Wonders" circus train with her father, famed illustionist Theo Papadopoulos. At an early age she demonstrates intelligence and insatiable curiousity for the world around her, particularly the sciences. Her safe life is upturned when she discovers a mysterious young stowaway, Alexandre, and he is brought into the circus fold as Theo's apprentice.

The magic and excitment of circus life is overshadowed by Lena's lonliness, the limits placed upon her by her overprotective father, and the physical challenges of navigating early 20th century life with a disability. The friendship between Lena and Alexandre is written with heart, and an irresitable charm that reminds me of TJ Klune's writing (one of my favourite authors for his soul-warming character development).

World War II inescapably disrupts their sheltered life, and secrets between Lena, Alexandre and Theo threaten their harmonious existence. The author deals delicately and sensitively with issues around disability, feminism, and the horrors of the war.

I am not ordinarily a fan of WWI or WWII historical fiction, but was lured to this ARC by it's circus setting. I fell in love with Lena, and her vulnerability and drive. There are many twists a long the way, and I was impressed with how the author was able to simultaneously navigate big revelations and complicated historical settings. Minor characters had enough depth for me to become invested. The various settings for the story's action were so intriguing, I took the time when finished to read the author's notes and their blog online for more insight into how they developed the story.

I am excited to see this novel do well, and read more from this author in the future. Thank you to Harper Collins Canada for the ARC and opportunity to review. I would recommend this book to readers of literary and historical fiction and novels like The Night Circus and Like Water for Elephants.