Nothing like a good runaway orphan story.

This story is set in 1939. Back when a dollar was a lot of money, and nobody cared about kids, especially orphans. Seriously, I don’t think society started caring about children’s safety or if they were being well-cared for until the late 1990s.

I spent the first two-thirds of the story trying to figure out what happened to Lucy to make her stop talking. I had a theory going, but it turned out to be wrong. The truth is so much worse. What makes matters even more heartbreaking is that the horrible actions done to Lucy are based on real-life unethical occurrences during the time period.

On a more positive note, I got a real kick out of all the hustle and bustle of circus life. I love how Lucy described the things she saw while walking around. Here are a few of my favorite things mentioned:

• A tall man in long underwear, ironing his trousers
• A lady on stilts carrying birdcages in each hand
• A woman sat reading a book with her legs bent in a way it wasn’t possible for legs to bend. Her toes turned the pages

The circus is a truly magnificent place.

Lastly, I want to note that naming an orphanage, ‘The Home for Friendless Children,’ is cleverly cruel. It sounds like something from ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events.’