About this item

Following in the footsteps of her tiger-taming grandmother, a woman flees her abusive husband to join the circus in this masterful, heartfelt work of womens fiction. Peggy Webb won raves for her debut novel, The Tender Mercy of Roses, with novelist Pat Conroy calling her a truly gifted writer. Now Webb has crafted a poignant portrayal of a woman on the edge seeking solace in the past. Nobody in the family talks about Ellens grandmother Lola, who was swallowed up by the circus and emerged as a woman who tamed tigers and got away scot-free for killing her husband. When Ellens husband, Wayne, beats her nearly to death, she runs to the only place she knows where a woman can completely disappearthe same Big Top that once sheltered her grandmother. Though the circus moves from one town to the next, Wayne tracks it, and Ellen, relentlessly.