In Rosalind Brackenbury's new novel, The Circus at the End of the World, Markie is a young juggler who inherited his skill from Ulla, his absent mother. Left with Ulla's lover, Louis, a gifted painter who only paints gum trees, Markie grows up in the Tasmanian countryside until he takes charge of his destiny and sets out to the mainland and on to Paris and London to search for his mother. Juggling gives Markie the strength and vision to make daring moves and assertions, and it's juggling that gives Markie the ability to finally reunite his family.
As Markie emerges into manhood, he falls in love with Tania, a woman he meets while juggling on the streets of Sydney. Markie is an exceptional young man, wise and sure-footed, and instilled with a charming confidence as he steps into the new physical and emotional person he finds is himself. And Rosalind Brackenbury conveys the startling changes of a maturing man with the assurance and grace that make this journey enchanting and true. We're sure Markie is correct in his quest for Tania, who has also lost her mother. And we understand that Louis' refusal to search for Ulla-to stay put with the hope that she will return-is just as correct as Markie's choice to leave. As the characters are brought together there is the sense of inevitability and completeness and the thrill of events made right.
Brackenbury is also a poet, and there is a poet's use of language here that makes every word count and adds a quality of magical realism to The Circus at the End of the World. But this is a book that is grounded in reality-we can believe in the characters and their stories and root for them as they find their way in the world.
