The Electric Woman: A Memoir in Death-Defying Acts

by Tessa Fontaine

Featured in Amazon.com's Best Books of 2018.

‘Every day we put fire and swords and electricity into our bodies, throw knives at them, contort them, wrap them in snakes, and every day we wake up sure those things won’t harm us but also sure that there is so much else that will.’

When her mother had a series of strokes, Tessa Fontaine couldn’t stand to watch her mother disappear. The Electric Woman tells Tessa’s story of joining America’s last travelling freak show, and learning to perform death-defying acts in order to come to terms with her mother’s illness. In her life-affirming memoir, Tessa finds hope and companionship among sword swallowers and snake charmers.

• ISBN13: 9781912240203
• Publish Date: 17 May 2018 (first published 1 May 2018)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 1 August 2024
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Sandstone Press Ltd
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 244
• Language: English

Reviews

[zooloo1983]

This is a memoir, but not anything you would have read before. It does not read as a memoir but as a piece of fiction, so I had to keep telling myself it was a memoir, this happened, this was somebody's life! I am normally not a huge fan of memoirs, I mean I know the book is about the person writing it, but I can get quite bored as they go on about themselves (Yes I do know that is the point). This book is completely different, I did not feel like I was reading a memoir, because even though it was about Tessa, it did not feel like it was all about Tessa.

Tessa literally does what a lot of people dream of, she ran away to the circus! She is trying to deal with her mother having a stroke, being told that 'it won't be long now' but she defies the odds. The chapters flit between Tessa's memories of her mother and how they are all dealing with her mother's stroke and Davy, her Stepdad, planning a trip for him and her mother to go to Italy, their dream; to her current life on the road, all 150 days of them.

Tessa recounts her days as a "carnie" (although you never call them this!), she starts as a ballsy girl, doing tricks to entice people to come in to the last American travelling show, the World of Wonders, and we follow her as she works her way up to the 'The Electric Woman' (hence the book title).

It was interesting to read how life on the road really is. This is not glamour and glitz, it is hard, long days starting at about 8am and if you are lucky in bed for 2am! Everyone mucks in and helps get the tent set up, the banners, lights etc. The cleaning situation and showers are something I do not think I could cope with so I do not think that is the life for me! You are completely immersed in this book, you can almost smell how bad the living situations were, see the lights and hear the sounds as if you were there.

All through the book, Tessa is brutally honest, about her fears. The guilt of not saying 'I love you' to her mum. Cruel things she did say, and how she does not know if she will have the chance to rectify any of it, so she runs away to the circle to escape from it all.

This book is absolutely a must-read for everyone!

It is mesmerising and I have struggled to put it down. (If only I did not have to work and could read all day *woe*)

*Thanks to Ceris @ Sandstone Press and Tessa for a copy of her book*

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