Oh my. I’m not sure if I can describe how much I loved this book, this story. It was heartwarming, and sad, and horrible, and lovely. It reminded me of a blend of Tom Lake and Water for Elephants. Each character in this book was painted with such beauty, depth, and realism that it felt like it could be your family’s story. I loved every single bit of Cecily, from 4 years old to 94 years old. I also really appreciated that not everyone had a perfect ending. Because that’s not how the world works. I wish I could start all over again. 5 ⭐️

The story starts out on a sad note when Cecily's mother drops her off at an orphanage with a promise that she will return to pick her up. Eventually Cecily is sold to a traveling circus where life might be a little bit better. At the circus she appears to inherit a adopted big sister who teaches her the circus life and trains her to be the next big circus star as a bareback rider. The circus seems to be a glamours turn with all the animals, new noises and at least all the food you could ever want and quite the cast of characters. But over time the circus life does not stay so glamours. The story takes a twist when Cecily finds her first love. Unfortunately for her this is a forbidden love and there will be consequences.

This story jumps back and forth covering time when Cecily is young and, in the circus, and forward to when she is in her 90's and life throws a curveball when she breaks a hip. Along you follow the family of Cecily which covers three additional generations with each group dealing with their own trials and tribulations. The story starts to take a twist when Cecily's great grandson decides to present a DNA presentation at school. About a third of the way through the story takes a dramatic twist and it made me wonder where the story line was headed and made me wonder if this was necessary for the story line. But the author does a great job bringing it all together. This is definitely a five-star read in my opinion.

When the mother and grandmother get great-grandmother (the titular Cecily Larson)'s DNA sample without telling her they are working on the grandson's DNA project, well, they deserve to be surprised. Meanwhile, in North Carolina, another woman, fresh out of rehab, opens that same can of potential double-helix worms.

This debut novel keeps a lot of narrative balls in the air, tracing Cecily's early life in an orphanage and as a circus performer during the golden age of circus while also presenting the various complications in ensuing generations.

It's not at all a bad book, but I wasn't taken up with the story and found myself midstream trying to remember who was who. My fault as a reader, likely, but it kept me from truly loving this one.

Thanks NetGalley and Mariner Books for the eARC in exchange for my unfettered opinion.
(to amaz 2/20)

This was a beautifully written story about Cecily - a girl given up for adoption by her mother after her father dies. When she is 7, she is “bought” and taken to join the circus. We see the story in multiple timelines and from multiple points of view. I loved the story of family and how choices we make, and things that are forced upon us can change our lives. I really was unsure about how the author would tie together the various storylines but she ultimately did a wonderful job. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a good, complicated family story! Or anyone who wants to learn more about an obscure life-like what it would be like to be a star of a circus!

I received this advance reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. I wanted to like this novel, but found the jarring shifts in protagonists to be too frequent, and the story of Cecily to be brief snippets that didn't allow me to become captivated with her character or the novel as a whole. The other protagonists set in the modern time also felt very forced and as if the author was leaning on them too much to get a modern reader with short attention spans to keep reading the novel. Due to the shorter, more snippet-like sections for each individual character, I couldn't become interested in any of them...

Sadly, I often find dual-timeline novels to be peopled with at least 1 character that is under-developed and as a result the reader is merely waiting to go back to the Other protagonist. I also feel that dual-timeline novels are a format overly-abused by writers trying to capture less discerning readers. I have read some excellent novels that Do Not fall into this category that are using the same format -- but in these few examples, the writers have achieved truly developed and well-rounded, three-dimensional characters in Each timeline. Unfortunately, although I had wanted to enjoy this novel and learn more about the circus Cecily worked for, I couldn't finish it due to the issues described here.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book.

This was long book, and I almost gave up on it more than once. Then, about halfway through, ANOTHER entire story appeared!! I was confused and wondered if there had been some mistake in the publishing of the book, but was intrigued enough to keep reading. And, FINALLY, the two stories came together! So don't give up, it IS worth the confusion to get "the whole story".

Following the death of her father in 1936, four-year-old Cecily Larson's mother drops her off at an orphanage in Chicago, promising, marking on the intake form, that she will return within a year to pick up her daughter and keep her from becoming eligible for adoption. But she never returns, and Cecily is sold to a circus when she is only seven. There she is taught how to be a trick rider and travels all over the country with the circus. At fourteen, she falls in love with one of the roustabouts, who is black, and discovers she is pregnant only after he has disappeared. When the circus management find out she is pregnant, they call the police and have her arrested and jailed and she is sentenced to stay in a children's detention center until she turns 21. But she manages to escape from the home where she gave birth and was told her baby died.

If that isn't enough, she has many other adventures and we finally catch up with her when she falls, at 95, and breaks her hip.

To tell anything else would spoil the story and you really should read it for yourself.

I am currently trying to finish this book. The description list this book at 384 pages but the print must be really small! 😆 I am reading on my Kindle and it’s taken much longer than normal. Listening length is 14 hours.

However, this book, so far has been a great story! If you like 𝐂𝐈𝐑𝐂𝐔𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐃 books set in the past then grab this one on Tuesday!

The story is written in past and present tense. My favorite is the time piece of Cecily’s story and the circus background. Though, this story does move at a slow pace, I loved the details and description of the circus traveling by train across the country! Cecily’s character is so easy to love and I can’t wait to see how it all connects with the people in the present.

This book will be released this Tuesday! Again, if you love historical fiction and a good circus piece, then I suggest you grab a copy! 😍

Cecily Larson's life is a mess. She was abandoned by her mother at age 4, adopted by the circus at age 7, and a runaway by age 15. By age 94, her family knows almost nothing about her life before her marriage to her late husband. Unfortunately, her grandson's school project is about to throw a wrench into her plan to let her secrets die with her.
This book was such a fun drama. The author made the characters standout in such a way that you felt all of the feelings with them, though some of the characters reactions are definitely over the top.
The drama throughout all of Cecily's life kept the plot moving at a quick pace with decisions from the past having ramifications in the present.
This book lost a star because truly any of this drama could be been prevented if any character, at any moment, decided to speak rather than keep a secret. Not quite a miscommunication trope, but annoying regardless.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book and definitely recommend it!
Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins, and the author for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed parts of this book, but other parts were not as enjoyable. The pacing was a bit slow with too many characters to keep up with. Just when I thought I had everyone figured out I was introduced to 2 or 3 more characters, several of which did not advance the plot in my opinion. I liked the overall basis of the story but there was too much bouncing around between timelines and characters for me to feel it was truly enjoyable. A lot of people have enjoyed this book, but it just missed the mark for me.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC and my honest opinon.

The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson strives to be Water For Elephants or even The Greatest Show On Earth but Ellen Baker’s story of an abandoned girl and the circus never meets those heights but does create a charming and caring story about love and found family.

Another unpopular opinion… this book moved too slowly and there was just too much going on for me to truly enjoy it. Were aspects of this book amazing? Yea. Did it put me in an emotional roller coaster? Definitely. I just wish the story line wasn’t quite so complicated. There were too many characters and different perspectives. I did not find that the switching timelines moved seamlessly. And it took me getting about 1/3 of the way through to truly enjoy the book. It was very slow up until that point. The family drama was on point and I really liked Cecily. Maybe my expectations based on the description were just not accurate, but I was not blown away by this book.

Thank you NetGalley for my advanced reader copy.

Many thanks for the complimentary ARC kindly provided by NetGalley and the author/publisher.

Secrets abound in this book and I really liked how Cecily’s story was unfolding. The additional drama that developed around this main storyline didn’t work for me because it seemed like everyone was in some sort of personal crisis. I felt it detracted from what was a really good story about Cecily. Some will love this but it was a little over the edge for me.

What a read! A young girl is dropped off at an orphanage during the depression. Her mother promises to pick her up when she is able. However, fate intervenes and we have the story of Cecily who is "adopted" by a circus manager and her life changes forever. Jump to Cecily year's later when her life is filled with secrets that she has never exposed. When a DNA test is performed for a project of a great grandson...secrets and family are exposed. Lots of characters but lots of feeling in this one. What makes a family and what do we sacrifice for those we love? Thanks to NetGalley for this one.

I just finished The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson by Ellen Baker. Instantly intrigued with little Cecily as her mother dropped her off at the orphanage in 1924 with the promise to come back to her, she is never seen again. I wish we learned more about the mother and her story, I kept thinking we were going to find out more but we don’t.

In any case, Cecily is at the orphanage for a while until she’s sold into a traveling circus. The book flips between Cecily in the circus as a young girl, then teenager, and to present day where she has hidden her past from her daughter and grand daughter. We delve a bit into the lives of Liz, Cecily’s daughter and Molly, her daughter.

We also learn about another family, linked to Cecily. Its the DNA test that Molly’s son does that opens the can of worms that Cecily’s hidden life.

Synopsis:

In 1924, four-year-old Cecily Larson’s mother reluctantly drops her off at an orphanage in Chicago, promising to be back once she’s made enough money to support both Cecily and herself. But she never returns, and shortly after high-spirited Cecily turns seven, she is sold to a traveling circus to perform as the “little sister” to glamorous bareback rider Isabelle DuMonde. With Isabelle and the rest of the circus, Cecily finally feels she’s found the family she craves. But as the years go by, the cracks in her little world begin to show. And when teenage Cecily meets and falls in love with a young roustabout named Lucky, she finds her life thrown onto an entirely unexpected—and dangerous—course.

In 2015, Cecily is now 94 and living a quiet life in Minnesota, with her daughter, granddaughter, and great-grandson. But when her family decides to surprise her with an at-home DNA test, the unexpected results not only bring to light the tragic love story that Cecily has kept hidden for decades but also throw into question everything about the family she’s raised and claimed as her own for nearly seventy years. Cecily and everyone in her life must now decide who they really are and what family—and forgiveness—really mean.

This comes out on Feb 20th.

“She began to wonder: What was the feeling you felt when you belonged somewhere? Whatever it was, sure she had never felt it. Would she recognize it?”

As a reader and admirer of Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants, I didn’t imagine I would need to read another 1930s circus story. Boy, was I wrong!

Cecily Larson has a hidden, heartbreaking and adventurous life spanning the decades of the 1920s to the 2010s. Ms. Baker takes readers on a journey across the U.S. and, like the circus trains anchoring the story, there is a show in each geographic location. Cecily begins her life as a toddler placed in a Chicago orphanage and spends the next 90 years in search of home, family and a sense of belonging. The vast web of characters affected by some sinister people, some good samaritans and a desire to keep secrets, each hold their own truth and hopefulness in various ways.

When DNA testing enters the mix the inter relationships come into focus, and had this reader hanging on for dear life, turning pages well into the night to find out how the pieces fit together. A plot as taught as a circus tightrope (I had to) kept many mysteries on the periphery until just the right time. I absolutely loved the Depression Era backdrop to the circus life, rich with well researched details, and the more modern period in northern Minnesota provided the perfect balance.

Recommended for those who enjoy historical family dramas with an Ancestry.com element like Lian Dolan’s The Sweeney Sisters.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the advanced digital copy of The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson by Ellen Baker in return for my honest review.

The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson is going to have quite a following. The story is an interesting one. Cecily Larson has lived a difficult life, but her family has no idea of her history, that is until her great-grandson submits DNA samples to trace his family’s ancestry for a school project. As a result Cecily’s secrets are about to come to light. With a heartbreaking backstory, Cecily has learned to endure, survive, and reinvent herself.

I enjoyed this work of historical fiction, but not as much as I am sure some will. There is quite a bit going on in this story. There are multiple time lines and quite a few characters. Some readers will admire Cecily, but I wanted to like her more. Perhaps as a result of her circumstances, she is guarded, trusts few, and has made some questionable choices. To say more would spoil the magic of the story.

Historical fiction is probably my favorite genre, and this one certainly didn't disappoint. There are some historical fiction novels that you can read, and a year or two later, someone will ask you about it, and you find that you really can't discern it from ones that you've read since then. The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson is going to be one that sticks with me. For me, it was reminiscent of Before We Were Yours and The Orphan Train. I'd also put it in the same category as Calling Me Home and Dreamland Burning. Not that each of these books are so similar, but each one does share some likenesses. Perhaps the most important thing for me though is that they all are very memorable in their topics and in the author's presentation.

My favorite historical fiction novels are the ones that are written in a dual or multi-faceted timeline and solve a present day mystery as the story unfolds. The Hidden Life fits this bill perfectly.

Other memorable aspects for me would be the strong character of Cecily, the setting of the circus, and the topic of adoption or selling of babies.

I am so glad that I had the opportunity to read this book. Thank you, NetGalley and Mariner Books, for the chance to preview this copy. Thank you to Ellen Baker for a riveting, compelling, and heartfelt story.

I really liked the premise and idea of the story but it fell flat for me.
The first big issue was the character dumping. The beginning throws you in and it doesn’t transition well to where you know which character is talking when, or who we are describing.
The other issue is when switching from past to present there is no clear labeling of this. I prefer chapters to say when they are in the present, etc. The dates were written sometimes but not all the time. Sometimes the time would switch mid chapter. It took me so long to understand who was talking in the first several chapters because I had no clue who was who. I was getting so confused with Liz and Molly and their relation to Cecily in the beginning. This wasn’t described well enough for me.
Then there were more characters thrown in and I got even more confused and didn’t understand anyone’s relationships for a while. I did finally understand, but I got to about 30% and decided to dnf because sadly it wasn’t grabbing my attention enough. There just isn’t a super strong plot and nothing really gripping me to want to read more. I’m sorry that it turned out not well for me, but I wish you all the best on your book.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoy books at the circus or that take place in the circus and so I had high hopes for this book. While part of the story is centered around the circus, it really is a small part of the overall story. This is a story about a young girl who’s given a hard hand and comes out a survivor.

THE HIDDEN LIFE OF CECILY LARSON
BY: ELLEN BAKER

This is a novel that covers such a multifaceted amount of powerful themes. I did enjoy it but it did start out in one direction and switched its focus towards the end and it felt rushed. It starts out with a young girl named Cecily getting dropped off by her mother at an orphanage where her mother promises to be back to get Cecily after she earns enough money for both of them to survive with. This is the middle of the 1920's. In fact her mother seemed quite sincere to me in wanting Cecily to stay no more than a year. She signed a document saying she would be back within a year. Cecily is hopeful to be leaving the orphanage in Chicago. Both Cecily and I were heartbroken at the fact when a few years pass and she gets sold to a rather stern man.

The man who bought Cecily doesn't say much to her and Cecily is worried that her mother won't be able to locate her when she returns to claim Cecily. The innocence in Cecily's pure heart still believes her mother will be searching and I as the reader felt in my heart that I knew it would be impossible for the mother daughter reunion. Cecily has been bought by a man who owns half of the circus that they eventually reach after a long train ride. Cecily is in awe at seeing all of the animals, clowns, and she for once has enough food to not be hungry anymore. She however doesn't yet know that she will be expected to perform even when she injures her knee. She is taken under a young woman's wing named Isabella and they do acts while riding a horse.

Cecily gets attached to her horse and is still only able to see the good in people until Isabella gets jealous of Cecily. Isabella is in a relationship with the man who bought Cecily and as Cecily grows up as a teenager the man who bought Cecily starts showing an interest in her which turns Isabella from what was initially a sisterly bond to outright hatred and cruelty towards Cecily. All Cecily has now is her horse and she falls in love with one of the young teenagers who happens to be Black who helps her around when she injures her knee. A romance ensues and when it's discovered that Cecily is pregnant her boyfriend has left already.

Cecily ends up in a reformatory and wants more than anything to keep her baby. She does get transferred to a better home with the belief that she will stay and have her baby. She loves her baby while she is pregnant and has every hope of finding her baby's father whose name is Lucky and the three of them becoming a family.

The novel at some point alternated with the year 2015 where Cecily is 94 years old and is in the hospital after breaking her hip. She has a daughter named Liz, a granddaughter named Molly who are concerned for Cecily's full recuperation which will be months in rehabilitation. Molly has a son named Cade who is a teenager. For a school project he is tracing his family tree and his grandmother Liz offers to pay for four DNA kits which costs between four and five hundred dollars. Molly and Liz think it will be a wonderful surprise birthday gift for Cecily to have the results. It is understood that Cecily would never agree to participate so Molly has one of the nurses trick Cecily into filling a tube with her saliva without knowing it's for her great grandson's school project. She thinks its a test for the hospital not knowing she has supplied her DNA to be tested.

What could be the harm in the DNA tests? There is where the consequences upon receiving the results will bring surprising discoveries. This is the section I began talking about being too much happening at once towards the last 30% of the novel. It should have been introduced earlier by not making the circus taking up most of the story and not an info dump towards the end.

I did really enjoy this novel and it explores many themes. At times heartbreaking there is also inspiration and hope and at its heart is love and family. The novel sings with it being written with a huge heart and the many kinds of love. It also explores forgiveness, adoption and its effects on yearning to know and connect with biological family. It does end with a HEA and left me grateful for the chance to have read it feeling love in its many forms.

Publication Date: February 20, 2024

Thank you to Net Galley, Ellen Baker and Mariner Books for providing me with my eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#TheHiddenLifeofCecilyLarson #EllenBaker #MarinerBooks #NetGalley