Church of Marvels
Leslie Parry
309 pages - 2015 - historical fiction, mystery
April 3rd, 2024 — April 6th, 2024
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
One of my favorite books of all time is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I read it in middle school, and for a few weeks after, I insisted on wearing fingerless elbow-length black-and-white-striped gloves constantly. There was something about the feeling of that book, the aura of heartbreak that surrounds a circus, that really appealed to me as a person just learning about the world.
In many ways, I feel that this book was a beautiful companion to that novel. It is not a book meant for younger audiences—there are some rather gruesome depictions within, as well as some heavy topics—but it has the same feeling. Maybe more heartbreak and much less magic, but while I was reading it, I continuously felt like I was watching something awe-inspiring.
The book follows a few different storylines, beginning with a first-person prologue and leading into a web of various tales told about many characters. We meet Sylvan, a night-soiler (someone who helped clear the streets of sewage) who finds a baby one day that had been discarded in an alley. There is Alphie, who has been sent away to an asylum by her mother-in-law for reasons unknown to us (at first). And there is Odile, daughter of Friendship Willingbird Church, who ran the titular Church of Marvels. Odile was born with various defects that left her unable to perform like her sister; her twin, Belle, was near perfection on stage. Odile instead works as the person spinning on the Wheel of Death, as other performers throw knives at her. Recently, there was a fire at their theater; Odile and Belle’s mother died, along with many of their colleagues, and Belle became despondent, eventually running away.
There are three problems that are immediately evident, one for each storyline. Sylvan, told to leave the baby behind, is torn, and has to escape from his duty to keep the child safe, as well as find its mother (or, at least, find it a home). Alphie wants to escape the asylum, or is at least sure that she will not have to, because her husband, Anthony, will come rescue her. And Odile is desperate to find her twin sister again, her only lead being that she left Coney Island for Manhattan.
Many books try to tackle the twisted narrative style—not an official term—where there are multiple characters or perspectives and eventually the twists are ironed out. We, as readers, know that the stories will be connected, but we do not know how until it all unravels.
I’ve found that a lot of books do not achieve the level of satisfaction that they set out to achieve; after all, it can be very difficult to keep everything separate until the right moment of revelation. One of the most successful books in this regard, I believe, is The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey. Each section is written in first person, so we learn through context clues that the person we followed in the first section is not the one we are following in the second, and so on. The threads weave together in such a wonderful way. I remember not wanting to put that book down, excited at the smallest detail that connected one character to another.
Church of Marvels was incredibly successful in this regard as well. It feels almost like a “blink-and-you’ll-miss-it” type of movie, where there are tiny details in the background that maybe reveal something or come back later, and only eagle-eyed viewers will have that smug feeling of knowing before the big disclosure. Seemingly minute pieces of information are peppered in to each individual storyline that amass until they all connect, woven together beautifully.
Spoilers Ahead!
I am a sucker for twin media, and that means I can also be highly critical of it. I am always a little wary (and incredibly excited) at stories that involve twins. I myself am a twin, and it is a large part of my identity. We have a bit of the “twin thing” that is talked about but impossible to explain.
That being said, I loved the depiction of the twins in this book. At the end, it is revealed that they were born as conjoined twins, connected at the head, but had to be separated for both of them to live. Odile, the smaller twin, had her nutrients basically sapped by Belle; separating them allowed both to survive. This only becomes heartbreaking at the end of the book—we don’t learn this until the epilogue, but it means that their story comes full circle—when Belle decides not to return to Coney Island with Odile and Sylvan. The twins share a moment, staring out over the water at each other, raising their hands in conceit and farewell. We do not know what happens after the book ends, but there is a chance that they will never see each other again, and there is that sort of air about their wave goodbye.
Each story also felt very raw and real. The reader learns that Belle was pregnant, which is one reason she decided to run away; she also accidentally caused the fire that burned down their theater and claimed the lives of her mother and her baby’s father, Aldovar, with whom they had performed their whole lives. It is this detail that helps us start putting the pieces together—the baby was Belle’s, and she must have given it up. But it is not that simple, we learn.
Belle found herself in the asylum with Alphie somehow, and we learn that Alphie was born a man—Alphonse—but decided to live as a woman. This is why she was sent to the asylum—her mother-in-law is desperate for her son to have a child, so Alphie fakes a pregnancy with the help of Mrs. Bloodworth, who will deliver a baby to Alphie’s house. It goes wrong when Belle—the mother of the baby that will be transferred—wants to take the baby to Alphie’s house herself, and Signora, the mother-in-law, dd not leave on a trip as promised, but stayed behind. She catches the two in the act of faking a birth scene, learning about Alphie’s deception, and sends them to the asylum as punishment.
It is a story that feels both old-timey and modern. The main characters are relatable and exciting, and the writing is gorgeous, pulling us into the world and not letting us go. I saw it listed as a horror book somewhere, but I would argue against that—maybe it is a mystery, as I have it listed, but overall it feels more like a slice of life, a romance, a found family.
I read the first few chapters of this book over the course of a couple days, and I read the second half of the book in a couple hours. As the stories reveal themselves to each other and the strands untangle, it becomes more and more compelling. And it doesn’t leave us in a perfect place—there are still aspects of heartbreak and sorrow. But it is a satisfying ending. I finished the book feeling like I had been immersed in the world so thoroughly that it was sad to be leaving it. I think it was balanced, nuanced, and fun. I’ll be recommending it to a lot of folks along the way.
Total pages read so far, 2024: 6,703
Total books read so far, 2024: 18
Next book: The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot