The Midnight Carousel
Paperback Published on: 12/03/2026
Price: £9.99
Bookseller Reviews
View all
A dazzlingly dark tale of obsession & grief, love & desire!
Roll up, roll up and ride the carousel if you dare!
Designed for the Paris Exhibition of 1900, Gilbert Cloutier's carousel takes on a sinister edge when... READ MORE
Magical
An entertaining and magical novel . Full of great characters who keep you hooked. Would highly recommend
Would you ride at the Silver Kingdom?
Beautiful debut novel, recommended by a bookseller at Waterstones Lincoln. This book will stay with me forever!
Enchanting, magical, and mysterious!
Dear reader, you are invited to the grand unveiling of the Midnight Carousel! Where sparkling beauty conceals a darkness beneath…..
Paris, 1900.
Carousel... READ MORE
Synopsis
THE NIGHT CIRCUS MEETS WATER FOR ELEPHANTS IN THIS ENCHANTING, DARKLY GLITTERING STORY OF GRIEF, OBSESSION, REVENGE AND ENDURING LOVE
'An atmospheric, evocative adventure across the world. Stunning'
JANICE HALLETT
'Took hold of my heart and held me captive.'
ANYA BERGMAN
'What a special story this is. A brilliant, absorbing ride'
AMANDA GEARD
'I completely surrendered to its magic'
HESTER MUSSON
'A truly magical book that kept me reading long into the night'
LOUISE HARE
'My favourite book of the year. When I wasn't reading it, it was all I could think about.'
SARAH PENNER
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Come children, come children from far and near. Come choose your steed, you galloping knights, to enjoy the fun of the carousel . . .
Paris, 1914
Detective Laurent Bisset has reluctantly closed a most puzzling case. Fairgoers have been vanishing while riding a dazzling carousel. The only man who could be responsible is behind bars – but Laurent cannot explain what happened to those missing.
Chicago, 1920
Maisie Marlowe acquires a beautiful, antique carousel, and sets up the Silver Kingdom amusement park. It is a place of delight and wonder – until a child goes missing on its most famous ride.
When rumours of the Chicago disappearance reach Laurent, he crosses the Atlantic in search of new answers to an old mystery.
Together, can he and Maisie uncover the carousel’s secret before it claims another?
'A beguiling mystery and a fabulous love story'
GARETH BROWN
'Intricate and enchanting'
FREYA BERRY
'I adored it . . . Readers are in for a treat'
MELISSA FU
'A lavish tapestry that weaves a compelling mystery into a timeless love story. Breathtaking'
HELEN FIELDS
Publisher information
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
- ISBN: 9781405969994
- Number of pages: 368
- Dimensions: 199 x 129 x 25 mm
- Weight: 262g
- Languages: English
Customer Reviews
View allWonderful novel
This book is amazing, its hard to believe this is a debut novel.
The characters are so well written they seem real and the setting is so vivid that you... READ MORE
Great Read!
This story was full of actions , interlinked and intertwined and all coming unravelled at the end. I loved how the beginning also became the end. Great con... READ MORE
An Irresistible Ride!
This book absolutely sucked me in and I went for a wild ride on this magical carousel of a story! Told mostly from the viewpoint of Maisie with other bits ... READ MORE
Unique, magical but tragic, a fantastic read
I really enjoyed reading The Midnight Carousel, I found the story to be intriguing and I loved how it spanned over the years. The story of Maisie was fasci... READ MORE
Magical and mysterious!
Whenever you decide to read a book by an author who’s new to you, you never really know what to expect and there’s always a risk you won’t like it, particu... READ MORE
An intriguing historical novel with a criminal twist.
I read this without knowing much about it and from the title/cover I expected something a little more magical but what I got was an interesting, intriguing... READ MORE
A great debut full of magic…
An interesting story full of twists and turns. It took me a little while go get properly into it. But once I did I was hooked. I really wanted Maisie’s lif... READ MORE
Fantastic premise, great mystery, loved Maisie
An Intriguing Premise
A circus and especially a merry-go-round provide a magical backdrop for a story and I was instantly intrigued by the blurb for this story. The early chapte... READ MORE
Captivating
I'll be honest and say that the first thing that drew me to this book was the Title. Anything with the word 'Midnight' in the title has an air of magic and... READ MORE
A Truly Wonderful Story
The Midnight Carousel is a magical read that takes you on a journey you will never forget. It begins in Paris 1900 when carousel maker Gilbert works day an... READ MORE
An enticing mystery
Wow, what a great debut novel, I do hope there is more to come from Fiza Saeed McLynn!
This is such an enticing mystery - a beautiful French carousel is... READ MORE
Five stars!
The Midnight Carousel by Fiza Saeed McLynn is a captivating tale that intertwines elements of historical fiction, mystery, and a touch of the supernatural.... READ MORE
Wonderfully atmospheric and utterly captivating. A strong debut.
Wonderfully atmospheric and utterly captivating, ‘The Midnight Carousel’ is a strong debut. From page one I was drawn into the story’s world, and not for o... READ MORE
Highly recommended
I inhaled this book in just 2 sittings. Partly, I suspect, because it's written with a lightness of touch that I'd usually expect from YA books )observatio... READ MORE
A compelling historical mystery
In turn-of-the-century Paris, Gilbert Cloutier builds his final carousel. Devastated by the death of his wife and son, this is his last act before his disa... READ MORE
Beautiful novel
This was such a beautifully written novel. I was hooked from the very first page and kept reading until the end as I wanted to know what happened. It was e... READ MORE
An entertaining read centered around a carousel
A carousel is the central character in this seemingly magical, mystical story that takes us from Paris to America, in multiple timelines. Paris, 1900 and ... READ MORE
Magical carousel
Maisie is a child abandoned to the care of a cruel family in Canvey Island. She lives a very hard life until she is one day rescued by her aunt.
We follow... READ MORE
Impressive debut
As someone who devours mysteries for breakfast and spends weekends knee-deep in crime thrillers, it takes a lot for a mystery novel to truly surprise me. B... READ MORE
This is THE author to watch!
I am incredibly grateful to both NetGalley and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read and review The Midnight Carousel. Being sel... READ MORE
Great read
A very enjoyable historical murder mystery set around a carousel. Maisie, an undernourished mistreated orphan in Essex is rescued by her aunt. In France,... READ MORE
A lovely story
Grief stricken Gilbert Cloutier constructs a beautiful carousel for the 1900 Exposition. In 1914 in Paris, Detective Laurent Bisset is on the mysterious ca... READ MORE
Travelling Through Time and Across the Ocean
We meet the carousel first. It's 1900 and Gilbert is building it--his masterpiece--for a major exhibition. He is working through the deep grief he feels du... READ MORE
A great read with an unusual mystery!
A stunning carousel is presented in Paris, more beautiful than anything anyone has ever seen before and whilst it is attracting many fair goers, it also se... READ MORE
Thoroughly enjoyable read
The plotline of this murder mystery/love story was hard to predict. In a winding tale that took in Canvey Island, Chicago and Paris, we see the progress of... READ MORE
Historical fiction with a magical mystery twist
Oh wow "The Midnight Carousel" by Fiza Saeed McLynn is right up my street. Historical fiction with a magical mystery twist, it is similar to the writings o... READ MORE
Simply wonderful
I love it when a book becomes more popular than you expected. A story that wraps you into itself it provides comfort in its imagined fiction and spurs you ... READ MORE
A romantic mystery with a little hint of magic
The Midnight Carousel
Maisie spent her early childhood in a ramshackle shed of a house belonging to her foster parents. It isn’t a home though, with ad... READ MORE
Good mystery, good pace, good characters
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.
I will say 3.5 rounded up because I have given a 3 to many books I have liked le... READ MORE
Magical
Thank you NetGalley and Penguin for this eCopy to review
As I closed the pages of The Midnight Carousel, I found myself haunted by its darkly glittering... READ MORE
Fascinating story
A beautiful carousel but with a dark past finds its way into the life of Maisie and she seizes the opportunity to give it a new lease of life but the curse... READ MORE
Fascinating read
This story was full of actions , interlinked and intertwined and all coming unravelled at the end. I loved how the beginning also became the end. Great con... READ MORE
Great premise a bit disappointing
All the ingredients were there for a good read but I felt that the plot and reveal were very slow and the characters lacked the depth or subtlety I like : ... READ MORE
A good read
Maisie grew up in very poor circumstances until her aunt suddenly appeared & she was whisked off to live in an elegant house where her aunt is housekeeper.... READ MORE