A Girl Made of Air
Paperback Published on: 02/09/2021
Price: £10.99
Bookseller Reviews
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Lose yourself in this must-read!
Born unwanted into a post-war circus family, Mouse is abandoned to grow up alone in the shadows of the big top.
Until a mysterious stranger with glowing fl... READ MORE
Roll Up, Roll Up, A New Wonder To Behold!
A magical read that takes the reader on a journey back to a post-war circus. A young girl born to a mother who was the main attraction and so in love with ... READ MORE
Synopsis
This is the story of The Greatest Funambulist Who Ever Lived . . .
Born into a post-war circus family, our nameless star was unwanted and forgotten, abandoned in the shadows of the big top. Until the bright light of Serendipity Wilson threw her into focus.
Now an adult, haunted by an incident in which a child was lost from the circus, our narrator, a tightrope artiste, weaves together her spellbinding tales of circus legends, earthy magic and folklore, all in the hope of finding the child . . . But will her story be enough to bring the pair together again?
Beautiful and intoxicating, A Girl Made of Air brings the circus to life in all of its grime and glory; Marina, Manu, Serendipity Wilson, Fausto, Big Gen and Mouse will live long in the hearts of readers. As will this story of loss and reconciliation, of storytelling and truth.
READERS LOVE A GIRL MADE OF AIR
'Spellbinding and luminous' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'A tantalizing mystery' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'So immersive and magical and precious' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'A beautiful book' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'A captivating tale of love and loss and finding connection in the most unexpected places' Nikki Marmery, author of On Wilder Seas
Publisher information
- Publisher: Quercus Publishing
- ISBN: 9781529408911
- Number of pages: 384
- Dimensions: 196 x 128 x 26 mm
- Weight: 270g
- Languages: English
Customer Reviews
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A Dark and etehereal fairy tale
As a life long admirer of writers Angela Carter and Katherine Dunn, the hook of this novel immediately caught my attention. Who, as a child, has not wanted... READ MORE
Colourful, warm, funny and sad
I loved this story - anything to do with the magic of circus is always a winner in my opinion.
Mouse is a tightrope walker, making her living as The Great... READ MORE
The Best Funambulist Who Ever Lived.
Roll Up, Roll Up, Roll Up, to witness the greatest Funambulist who ever lived !
This story is told by our main protagonist who is nameless but known as 'Mo... READ MORE
A magical and spell binding story
If you are after a magical and spell binding story then this is the one for you, as long as you use your imagination you are in for a real treat. The main ... READ MORE
A book full of beauty, love and longing
Mouse, rejected by her traumatised mother, finds solace and companionship with animals, beautiful oddballs and drifters throughout this heart wrenching st... READ MORE
An Intriguing Read
3.5 stars rounded up to 4
Mouse was born into circus life but neither her mother or father wanted to look after her. Serendipity Wilson takes Mouse into h... READ MORE
A magical circus tale
A captivating tale of a girl born into circus life , her observations, quirks and friendships are told from the perspective of when she is old and re-readi... READ MORE
A wonderful work of historical fiction about a woman who seems to walk on air
My thanks to Quercus Books for granting my wish to receive an eARC via NetGalley of ‘A Girl Made of Air’ by Nydia Hetherington. I have purchased its exquis... READ MORE
Beautiful book
This book pulls you in to its magical world with its beautiful lyrical language. I was entranced from the very beginning. This is one of those books you ... READ MORE
A stunning and heartbreaking debut novel
A Girl Made of Air is told by the Greater Funambulist That Ever Lived, who we only know as Mouse. Growing up in a post-war circus to a mother who doesn't l... READ MORE
Beautiful book
I have very mixed thoughts on this. Which is why I’m sitting at 3 stars.
Firstly and foremost, the author has the most beautiful way with words. The most ... READ MORE
Roll up roll up for a circus adventure like no other!
This book follows the story of Mouse (we never find out her real name); the greatest funambulist that ever lived. Born into a post-war circus family she is... READ MORE
Fabulous!
I was sent a copy of A Girl Made of Air by Nydia Hetherington to read and review by NetGalley.
What a fantastic book, in many senses of the word! I absolu... READ MORE
I do hope for a sequel
When I first started reading this book, I thought that my first line would be "this book is so good that I bought it twice" but now I have finished it, my ... READ MORE
Beautifully magical
A lovely, melancholy tale about the World’s Greatest Funambulist.
Beautifully written, it has everything - history, adventure, tragedy and magic. I was tr... READ MORE
Working Without a Net
A spellbinding novel which deals with the sad life of a circus performer in the post-war years. We are never given the girl/woman's name but her only close... READ MORE
Whimiscal, if a little slow
I enjoyed the whimiscal element of this book, especially in the first section that focuses on Mouse's time at the travelling circus. There are dark moments... READ MORE
Clever Author
I picked this book because the premise evoked images of Zendaya in The Greatest showman and Reese Witherspoon in Water for Elephants.
The book starts wit... READ MORE
Life in the circus.
This is a rather sad tale centering around an unwanted daughter who lives in a run-down travelling circus. I could imagine her, unwashed and unloved, hidin... READ MORE
A beautiful book!
I finished this book a few days ago and havent written my review until now because I'm not sure how I feel about it.
At first I struggled to get into it an... READ MORE
Lyrical, Whimsical, Fantastical
3.5 Stars
It's hard not to have Erin Morgenstern in mind while reading this book, with fairytale and folklore interspersed throughout the story.
Mouse is ... READ MORE
Spellbinding and Ethereal
This is spellbinding. The entire novel is slightly ethereal – like every good circus trick, your senses create an illusion and it’s never certain what’s tr... READ MORE
No fun(ambulist) for me
A Girl Made of Air was a swing and a miss for me. I disliked the protagonist and found the storyline unconvincing and strangely disconnected from time and ... READ MORE
Curiously disjointed
Unloved and unwanted by her circus star mother and stepfather, Mouse skulks around the circus mostly ignored until the day she comes to the attention of lu... READ MORE
A spellbinding and luminous debut
“Up until this moment I have lived in sepia, my muddy life devoid of meaning. That is how it always feels, until I see her, once again, bathed in colour a... READ MORE
Heart-breaking
I loved the cover of this book first of all but when I read what it was about I was totally fascinated to find out what was inside. There is a shadow that ... READ MORE
As marvellous as it sounds!
As a huge fan of fantasy (with a particular emphasis on all things circus related) I was extremely excited to read Nydia Hetherington's debut novel "A Girl... READ MORE
Novel set in CONEY ISLAND/ENGLAND
Our protagonist, known only by her nickname “mouse” throughout the novel, was born into a post-war circus family and was almost totally neglected and forgo... READ MORE
Vivid, Lyrical and Poignant
An unnamed tightrope walker relates the story of her childhood in a post-war English circus and her rise to fame in New York. While the headliner of this t... READ MORE
Missing the circus flair
I didn’t have many expectations going in to ‘A Girl Made of Air’ other than what I learnt in the blurb - that it was a circus fantasy tale. As someone who ... READ MORE
Best of 2021; Whimsical & Intriguing
This book was everything I needed it to be and more. The writing was beautiful and all the characters were flawed and interesting and intriguing. This revi... READ MORE
Mesmerising and magical
“Up until this moment I have lived in sepia, my muddy life devoid of meaning. That is how it always feels, until I see her, once again, bathed in colour a... READ MORE