The Life She Was Given A Moving and Emotional Saga of Family and Resilient Women

This historical fiction novel alternates between two timelines, exploring a decades-old family secret. In 1931, young Lilly Blackwood, who has been confined to a narrow attic room at Blackwood Manor, is sold by her own mother to a Depression-era traveling circus sideshow. At The Barlow Brothers' Circus, Lilly, helped by elephants Pepper and JoJo and their handler, Cole, transforms from a sideshow spectacle into the circus's biggest attraction—until tragedy and cruelty collide. More than two decades later, in the 1950s, nineteen-year-old Julia Blackwood inherits the family's estate and horse farm. Hoping to erase painful childhood memories of strict rules and forbidden rooms, Julia instead becomes immersed in a mystery involving a hidden attic room and unsettling photos of a striking young girl in circus scenes. It falls to Julia to uncover the truth about Lilly's fate and her family's shocking betrayal, finding a way to make Blackwood Manor a place of healing at last. The story is a moving saga of strength, reinvention, family secrets, and indomitable hope.

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