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Elisa Shua Dusapin delivers another finely drawn portrait of a character in flux, this time sending her to the circus. Following her prize winning English debut Winter in Sokcho and its follow-up The Pachinko Parlour, Dusapin continues her exploration of loneliness and identity in the port city of Vladivostok as fall turns to winter.

Nathalie, a recent college graduate with an emphasis in clothing design, is commissioned to help a trio of circus performers with their costumes for an upcoming exhibition. She arrives at the circus as it closes for the winter, where Nathalie and the trio, along with Leon the choreographer and manager, will stay on to rehearse and design their new act. The trio is made up of Anton and Nino who have worked together for 15 years, a Russian and German respectively—and Anna, a Ukrainian woman about Nathalie's age that is replacing the previous 'flyer' of their Russian bar act, after an incident occurred leaving Igor, the previous flyer, unable to perform.

(It's worth noting this book was written and published in French in 2020, years before the Russian invasion of Ukraine; so while this story itself never denotes when it takes place, it's easier to imagine Anna's character and behaviors, speaking Russian and living in a Russian city, based on the context in which the story itself was created).

At first, Nathalie feels uncomfortable with such close contact and cohabiting with people she barely knows in a city she hasn't been to in nearly twenty years. But as the cold of winter descends and the characters begin to warm up to each other, she begins to reveal more of her guarded self and learns more about the others in return.

In a way this book reads well with Dusapin's other two novels in a loose sort of trilogy. Where she was in South Korea and Japan before, she triangulates her settings on the Russian coastline and even describes the setting in relation to some of these previous places. Nathalie feels dislocated in a way that her other protagonists have as well. We continue themes of language and identity, communication and the arts, through the ways in which characters speak to one another—both verbally and through shared experiences.

One of the highlights of the novel comes about mid-way through when Anton and Nino convince Nathalie to get on the bar and see what Anna experiences when they perform. From there, a sort of trust is developed as Dusapin explores how people in close proximity, especially those endeavoring to push the boundaries of art and creativity, must collaborate with one another. You see the barriers break down as the characters continue to develop bonds, often unspoken.

I won't lie and say this book hooked me immediately like her previous novels did. However, with each of her books, each time I read it, I immediately go back to the beginning and read it once again. This one was no exception. They are so short, but pack a punch, and while they may seem simple, there's a lot of nuance and layers to the story, the characters, their journeys, that you pick up on while re-reading.

Once I finished my 2nd reading of this, I was convinced by its brilliance, its subtlety and beauty, and that Dusapin is one of my favorite living writers. I cannot see what she does next (and hope that Higgins continues to translate with Luke Bird's excellent cover designs).