reviewed by Bev

I’ll be adding Jacob to my list of favorite octogenarians—right up there with Agatha McGee from Jon Hassler and Gramps in Cold Sassy Tree. Narrated by Jacob from his nursing home where he is as feisty at 90 as he was when he walked away from his Ivy League education in Veterinary Medicine.

At that time, stunned by his parents’ accident, he jumps aboard a train, only to find he landed with the misnamed Benzini Brothers’ Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Looking for a free meal and a couple of nights sleep, he hangs around. See circus life from a new perspective as the reader gets swept along into the lives of Jacob, Marlena, and of course, the elephant. This book is being talked about everywhere and it has it all, romance, history, animals, and even a murder.