The novel opens with the cryptic statement that“the circus arrives without warning” (3),establishing the mysterious tone of the novel.The opening chapter, which is written in the second person, describes the feeling of nervousness and excitement a visitor will experience while waiting in line for the circus to open. The circus opens only at night and closes at dawn and is described is described as being only black, white, and grey in color. 

In 1873, Prospero the Entertainer—a magician who practices the art of illusion—learns of the existence of his five year-old daughter, who has been abandoned at the theater where he works. She has a note pinned to her coat explaining that she is Prospero’s daughter. Once Prospero sees the girl, he realizes that she is, indeed, his daughter. He tells the girl that her given name, Celia, is not proper for a magician’s daughter, which makes the girl angry and she uses her magic to shatter a teacup and then, to Prospero’s amazement, reassembles it. “You might be interesting” (11), he tells her and decides to train her in order to further develop her magical gifts. 

Several months later, Prospero is met in his dressing room by

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