The Night Circus

Set near an ahistorical Victorian London, Erin Morgenstern's novel centers on a wandering circus that arrives without warning, opens only from nightfall to dawn and fills black-and-white striped tents with illusionists, fortune-tellers and impossible attractions. Le Cirque des Rêves is also the arena for a secret contest. The illusionist Hector Bowen, known on stage as Prospero the Enchanter, and a rival called Mr. A. H. each raise a young magician for a duel of will and magic: Bowen trains his daughter Celia harshly, his rival schools his orphan ward Marco Alisdair, and neither pupil knows who the opponent is. The 2011 novel began as a National Novel Writing Month project and is told nonlinearly from several viewpoints.

Koru co-founder Kristen Hamilton called it stunning and fantastical, a welcome creative break from business books.