Le Cirque des Reves is only open from dusk til dawn, and is filled with black and white tents housing illusions and acts that defy imagination. There’s a wishing tree, a cloud maze, a contortionist, a fortune teller, and the illusionist, a young woman who can change the color of her hair while you watch.

This mystical, magical circus provides the board for a game of wits, for lack of a better term, between Celia, that young illusionist, and Marco, the circus’ manager. From the time they were children, Marco and Celia’s “caretakers” enter them into a sort of magician’s competition. As they grow, both Marco and Celia are trained for this competition though they are never told when it will take place or how a victor is declared.

This is the basic premise of Erin Morgenstern’s much buzzed debut novel, The Night Circus, and beyond that premise you’re not going to find much more than loads and loads and loads and then a few more loads of description.

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