The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno

The retro stylings of the jacket for The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno give this debut novel a distinctive and instructive image. Set amongst the 'one-born-every-minute' world of P T Barnum, it's a wonderfully spirited take both on the true birth of celebrity culture, and the ideas of individuality, love and longing.

Bartholomew Fortuno is the World's Thinnest Man. He has to be because P T Barnum says that he is. Amongst the other strange and macabre freaks, marvels and oddities of  Barnum's spectacular American Museum, Fortuno has found a true home - and is at the very height of his fame.

Things, however, change late one night, when Barnum arrives with a mysterious veiled woman. The rumour is that she is a new performer, but Barnum treats her quite differently to his other performers. Fortuno's interest is piqued, but when Barnum asks him to shadow her and report back on her whereabouts, things take an unusual turn. Who is this woman? And why does she have such a spectral hold on Barnum? And why is everyone so utterly enthralled by her?

Ellen Bryson brilliantly handles the mystery, melancholia and atmosphere of a strange and difficult world. Her characters shine through pitch-perfect prose, at the centre of which is Fortuno - a character worthy of comparison to the eponymous hero of Glen David Gold's Carter Beats the Devil. Well plotted, honest and vibrant, this is a riotous and moving carnival of a novel.