A Girl Made of Air by Nydia Hetherington

This is the story of The Greatest Funambulist Who Ever Lived..

Born into a post-war circus family, our nameless star was unwanted and forgotten, abandoned in the shadows of the big top. Until the bright light of Serendipity Wilson threw her into focus.

Now an adult, haunted by an incident in which a child was lost from the circus, our narrator, a tightrope artiste, weaves together her spellbinding tales of circus legends, earthy magic and folklore, all in the hope of finding the child... But will her story be enough to bring the pair together again?

Beautiful and intoxicating, A Girl Made of Air brings the circus to life in all of its grime and glory; Marina, Manu, Serendipity Wilson, Fausto, Big Gen and Mouse will live long in the hearts of readers. As will this story of loss and reconciliation, of storytelling and truth.

I’d bought this book back in January and just haven’t had time to read it. I’m so glad I got round to it. I’d recently read Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth MacNeal so was quite looking forward to reading another circus style book. How different the two books are! A Girl Made of Air is so good, its lovely, heartwarming, sad, heartbreaking, uplifting and magical all at the same time. 

Mouse is a child, thrown into such a strange life where she isn’t wanted and pushed aside. Her parents are close by but don’t have anything to do with her. Serendipity Wilson comes along and everything changes for Mouse. She has someone who loves her, someone who looks after her, they live together in Serendipity’s tent. I loved how the author always made Mouse use Serendipity Wilson’s full name, there was something very old worldly about it. 

I loved the way Mouse describes the circus world, the way she sees things from under the caravans when she’s hiding away watching the world. She sneaky, and knows exactly where to go and how to stay away from people. The love she brings when she talks about being on the wire, you can tell it makes her feel special and gives her joy. And the way she talks about Serendipity Wilson, she is very specia to her and you feel it through the pages. 

I liked the adult mouse talking to the reporter, giving her views of what happened back whe she was a child, talking about the missing child and her time trying to find her. I loved the house with the rollercoaster on top, the thought of something so fun like that was great. 

But there was also great sadness in the book, there were a few times I welled up a little, Nydias descriptive and heartfelt writing of these moments were so well written it dug deep down and made you feel it so much. 

I loved this book, a huge 5 stars from me. I’m hoping Nadia writes more and I would definitely read any more of her books.