A talented young trick rider finds unexpected community in a traveling carnival, only to discover secrets in the shadow of the Big Top.
Kentucky, 1954. Sixteen-year-old Charlie has no memory of being abandoned as a toddler—only the life she's known with Mama Rose and Papa Arlo, the rigidly devout couple who raised her as their own. But when Papa Arlo's rules begin pressing tighter by the day, and Mama Rose reveals a long-buried secret, Charlie realizes the truth of her past lies elsewhere. So she runs.
Disguised as a boy and dreaming of a future beyond the hills, Charlie follows the Ohio River to the Southland Carnival, where her fiery red curls and daring trick riding skills catch the owner's eye, and Charlie is transformed into a featured act. As "The Irish Princess," she soars beneath the Big Top, thrilling crowds and finding family among the carnival's kindhearted misfits and wounded souls.
Back in the hills of rural Kentucky, police chief Curtis Cates has his hands full with the disappearance of three local girls when he receives the call that Charlie has gone missing. As he begins investigating, the evidence leads in a shocking direction, calling to mind an unsolved murder that has haunted him for thirteen years. When the trail takes him to the Southland Carnival, Charlie's hard-won freedom collides with the secrets she fled, forcing both of them to face truths that have waited too long to be told.
Award-winning singer-songwriter Cindy Morgan, author of "mesmerizing" and "atmospheric" ( Historical Novel Society) Southern fiction, delivers a coming-of-age story threaded with mystery and heart that's perfect for fans of Donna Everhart and Ellen Marie Wiseman.
- Standalone Southern women's fiction in the vein of Kim Michele Richardson and Lisa Wingate
- Captivating historical fiction set in the 1950s that's perfect for book clubs
- Features a horse-riding heroine, a cold-case mystery, and themes of adoption, forgiveness, belonging, and found family
- Includes discussion questions