Harold Kline is an albino—an outcast. Folks stare and taunt, calling him Ghost Boy. It’s been that way for all of his 14 years. So when the circus comes to town, Harold runs off to join it.
Full of colorful performers, the circus seems like the answer to Harold’s loneliness. He’s eager to meet the Cannibal King, a sideshow attraction who’s an albino, too. He’s touched that Princess Minikin and the Fossil Man, two other sideshow curiosities, embrace him like a son. He’s in love with Flip, the pretty and beguiling horse trainer, and awed by the all-knowing Gypsy Magda. Most of all, Harold is proud of training the elephants, and of earning respect and a sense of normalcy. Even at the circus, though, two groups exist—the freaks, and everyone else. Harold straddles both groups. But fitting in comes at a price, and Harold must recognize the truth beneath what seems apparent before he can find a place to call home.
- ISBN10 044041668X
- ISBN13 9780440416685
- Publish Date 12 March 2002 (first published 10 October 2000)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group
- Format Paperback (US Mass Market)
- Pages 352
- Language English
- URL https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780440416685