15th February 2013, Curious Fox
224 pages, Paperback
Review copy
Summary from Curious Fox
No one performs on the circus trapeze like sixteen-year-old Remy Brunel.
But Remy also leads another life, as a cat burglar and jewel thief.
Forced by the evil circus owner Gustave to attempt the theft of one of
the world's most valuable diamonds, Remy thinks it will be just another
heist, but when she meets determined young detective Thaddeus Rec, her
life changes forever.
Will Thaddeus manage to rescue the jewel? Or is it really Remy that he needs to save?
Will Thaddeus manage to rescue the jewel? Or is it really Remy that he needs to save?
Nayuleska's thoughts
At the moment I'm enjoying books where the heroine has an active skill that they practice and use throughout the story. Remy's skill is used and abused by some people. I felt so bad for her because she had to be a criminal. It made her escaping Gustave's grasp a must. The thing is, her life outside the circus became more perilous, and in a way more rewarding when she helped people, than I'd imagined it could. Remy is made of tough stuff, both her skills as a trapeze artist, her quick thinking, and also help from the new friends she makes all help her in this 9/10 read adventure. Occasionally there were parts where I got a bit bored, but I was ill while reading this so that might have something to do with it.
You can find out more on Sharon's blog.
Suggested read
For another adventure involving the circus check out The 13 Secrets by Michelle Harrison
It is with great pleasure that I can introduce Sharon, who is going to talk about trapeze artists and why she chose one for her heroine.
I’ve always been fascinated by aerial
performers like trapeze artists and high-wire walkers. Maybe it has
something to do with my love of flying (one of my dreams is to get my
light-aircraft licence) and of seeing the Earth from the air, or
maybe it’s just the daring of it – the death-defying nature of
doing something that humans really shouldn’t be doing. So, when I
decided to write about a character that lived and worked in a circus,
she was always going to be an aerial performer. Beyond that, I
thought it made sense that a trapeze artist would make a great jewel
thief – fearless, agile, and quick-thinking. The perfect
cat-burglar!
There had been female high-wire walkers
since as far back as the 1600s, but the art of the trapeze actually
wasn’t invented until the mid-1800s. In 1859, the French gymnast
Jules Lèotard (yes, it is named after him!) developed an act where
he jumped from one trapeze to another, and the rest, as they say, is
history. What I found really interesting when I started reading about
female trapeze artists of the period is that they were often also
‘strong women’ who didn’t just fly on the trapeze, but also
lifted weights or performed other feats requiring unusual strength.
Take, for example, Leona Dare (real name Susan Adeline Stuart), whose
speciality was her ‘iron bite’, wherein she would hang from a
trapeze by only her teeth.
In 1872, she performed this feat while
dangling from a hot air balloon (presumably upside-down) and,
mid-flight, lifted her husband from the ground by the waistband of
his trousers, again with only her mouth…
I suppose it makes sense that such
women would be in possession of a strength that at the time would
probably have seemed completely out of place for a female. Swinging
through the air might look easy, but it requires huge stamina. I
couldn’t even to manage two chin-ups, but what these women were
accomplishing amounted to a whole string of them, with added
somersaults. There were also child trapeze artists, the most famous
being ‘El Nino Farini’ (real name Sam Wasgate), an American
orphan who had been raised as the son of Guillermo Antonio Farini,
himself famed for his work on the high wire. By the age of ten, El
Nino was able to swing from a trapeze by his neck while playing a
drum at the same time. Those are the kind of lessons I would have
loved to have had when I was his age.
I don’t know if there were any
trapeze artists of the period who were also trick riders, as Rémy
is. I’m sure there must have been. To be absolutely honest, though,
most of what Rémy does is straight out of my imagination rather than
as a result of any proper research. I’d like to imagine that she
could have really existed, and that if she had and I had lived at the
same time, we would have been mates. Although I doubt it, somehow…
she’s way too cool for me!
Wow, I didn't know the origins of a leotard! Thank you Sharon for an insight into your noel. I'm pretty sure Remy would have loved to meet you!
2 comments:
I didn't know th origin og the leotard either! This sounnds like a fascinating book. Great cover! LOVE IT!
~Jess
Go read it! It's as good as it sounds.
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