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1930s: A circus in the middle of the Great Depression in America
Water for Elephants
What you need to know before your trail
Jacob Jankowski’s parents are killed in a car crash just days before he is due to sit final exams at Cornell University. Alone and afraid, he hops on a train and ends up running away with the circus.
That circus owned by the Benzini Brothers Circus is hailed as the Greatest Show On Earth but the reality of it is quite different. Greed, backbreaking work and a joyless existence between man and beast, circus life is different to anything I had ever experienced before. Yet all is not bad as there is always magic to be found in a circus after all.
Travel Guide
Depression hit America
Jacob is an interesting narrator of what goes on there – as he tells us his story from his position as a young circus vet one moment and then as old man in a nursing home the next. The two sides to this story are fascinating and a first hand account of Jacob’s amazing journey with the circus. He is a skilled and funny narrator.
The author takes us deep in to the heart of depression era America and at times the reality of both the setting and the circus are hard to take in. Isn’t the circus a place of magic and wonder? Well they can be but the reality of working in a circus and in a depression hit America is something else.
Roll up roll up dear reader and come join the circus. Step into the big top and you will fly through the air from one emotion to the next, you will laugh with the clowns, be in awe of the magic, yet always be on the look out for that safety net which you hope is still down below. Jacob is your ring master for the event. Roll up roll up!
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