Beaked. Feathered. Monstrous. Avita was born to be a star. Her circus tent sells out nightly, and every performance incites bloodcurdling screams. She’s the most lucrative act from Texas to Tacoma, the crown jewel of the Family Fortuna.
Avita feeds on the fear, the screams, the gasps. But when a handsome young artist is commissioned to create new posters of the performers, Avita is appalled by his rendering of Bird Girl. Is that truly all she is—a hideous monster, all sharp beak and razor teeth, obsidian eyes and ruffled feathers?
Avita’s ready to be more. But her father, Arturo Fortuna, proprietor and ringmaster of the Family Fortuna, won’t give up his most popular attraction without a fight.
And Avita’s not the only one clamoring to be released from Arturo’s manipulative cage. Her sister, her brother, and even her mother are all tired of sacrificing everything for Arturo’s ambitions and his craving for cash. Will their fragile family ties survive the tension of a circus showdown?
Delightful and disturbing, bawdy and breathtaking, horrific and heartfelt, this electric and exquisitely crafted story about a family like no other challenges our every notion of what it means to be different.
