Horn Book Review
Abandoned by her parents, fourteen-year-old Portia Remini is sent to the McGreavey Home for Wayward Girls. After her only friend kills herself, Portia, wracked with grief and guilt, runs away in hope of finding her father and escaping the clutches of the Home's evil director, Mister. She uses her storytelling ability to get a job with Mosco's Traveling Wonder Show and soon befriends the performers, both "normals" and "freaks." Portia must uncover the truth about her past and the extent of Mister's treachery before she is able to realize that her true home and family now travel alongside her. First-time novelist Barnaby does an admirable job of weaving together this atmospheric Depression-era tale of Portia's journey toward self-discovery. Through third- and first-person narration (from the perspectives of not only Portia but also her carny friends, some of whom are based on real people), Barnaby skillfully develops her characters, with sinister villain Mister stealing the show. He's so smarmy and ruthless -- an utterly unredeemable man who preys upon his young charges and profits off their misfortunes -- that even when he's not in a scene, his ominous presence seems to haunt it. Through detailed description, the dreariness of the Home and the fantastical nature of the carnival world come vividly to life. cynthia k. ritter (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Fourteen-year-old Portia joins a circus freak show looking for the father who abandoned her, but she finds much more. Portia's odyssey takes place in a gothic, Depression-era Midwest. Her idyllic youth, surrounded by the stories of her extended family, ends when her widowed father leaves her with her stoic, thoroughly practical Aunt Sophia--who then turns her over to the distinctly un-homelike McGreavey Home for Wayward Girls, ruled by the sinister Mister. After her only friend commits suicide--an act Portia feels responsible for--Portia steals Mister's bicycle and runs away to the circus, where she hopes (with no real basis) to find her father. Her way with words wins her a place pitching the ballyhoo to the rubes who visit the titular Wonder Show. The languid, sensuous third-person account is periodically punctuated by the voices of Portia and the members of the Wonder Show, giving readers poignant insight into this fragile found family. The themes that delicately thread their way through the novel--of the power of story, of family and friendship, of seeking and finding--weave themselves together into a compelling depiction of Portia's very conscious act of self-definition: She can be, as her mentor in the ballyhoo says, whoever she wants to be. Infused with nostalgia and affection, this celebration of the deliberately constructed self will hold readers in its spell from beginning to end. (Historical fiction. 13 up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.