Roll up, Roll up, The Circus is in Town!

A lot of the books I have read recently seem to have featured a circus. Not the bright, loud, electric version that stops off at your local field once a year, but the run-down, faded from glory, slightly sinister type that is populated by a motley crew of 'other worldly' characters.

Despite the fact that the literary symbolism of using a shambolic travelling circus, full of 'unusual' people that have come from 'elsewhere' is so obvious it's a bit like being hit over the head with the strong man's dumb bell, I still love the descriptions of these people and places. As a reader you are free to see the romance in the setting and  every time your protagonist encounters the shady world of the circus it adds a frisson of danger that is so exciting when you know that you are sitting at home, safe on your sofa!

I know I am not the only one to have noticed these descriptions  - there are plenty of depictions of the circus available on Folksy. For today's Folksy Friday I have picked a selection of my favourites - items that encapsulate the weird and the wonderful, the moody and the macabre and the kooky and quirky...

 

 Just click on the pictures to be transported to the sellers shop