Life is actually quite tough for 17 year old Victoria, and the arrival of the circus in her home town in 1965, the opportunities it throws up, the magic, the chance to recreate herself is just too good to let pass. And off she goes. Oh, what a life it is. She discovers a pure talent for the high wire, finding love and a new family, who love and care for her, welcoming her into their unique and very different world.
Running parallel to Victoria's story is that of her fifteen year old grand daughter Callie, a child of the circus, and just like her grandmother a tight rope walker too. Only problem is that times have changed, and her mother has accepted a job in an animal sanctuary where retired circus animals go. All the lives of both Callie and her mother have only ever been in the circus, and some major readjustments need to take place, first with Callie accepting that her days of tightrope walking are over. And being a teenage girl, she has myriad other problems too, such as fitting in at a new school. Feeling isolated and alone, Callie begins going through some of her grandmother's bits and pieces, finding a story of another teenage girl.
This is a good story although I found it quite simplistic, which I think makes it a great read for the teen/young adult market. The circus life is fascinating, how one learns to walk a tightrope- makes it seem easier than it looks! We don't really have circuses now, and the way of life has largely gone. So there is plenty of social history in here too as well as the importance of family bonds, even when those bonds aren't necessarily blood bonds.
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