Nine-year-old Lilly Blackwood has spent her entire life in the attic of her parents' house. Her mother, a religious fanatic, views Lilly as an "abomination." Her seemingly loving father gives her presents yet keeps her imprisoned. Lilly cannot understand why she is hidden away until one day in 1931 when her mother sells her to a traveling circus. The homesick child, an albino, is violently beaten and forced into the sideshow. Yet among the circus folk, she will find kindness and even love. Twenty-five years later, 18-year-old Julia Blackwood has inherited the family home and horse farm, having run away from her cold controlling mother in the wake of her alcoholic father's death. Blackwood Manor had always been full of secrets and locked rooms. Now Julia will discover the depths of her family's cruelty. Switching back and forth in time and narration from Lilly to Julia, Wiseman (The Plum Tree) has crafted a can't-put-it-down novel of family secrets involving two young girls who only seek to be loved. VERDICT Perfect for book clubs and readers who admired Sara Gruen's Like Water for Elephants.—Catherine Coyne, Mansfield P.L., MA