Show stopper - Hayley Barker

A dazzling, high-octane read filled with death-defying
acrobatics, circus crowds with an appetite for disaster, and two
forbidden teenage lovers trying to escape the shackles of their
very different lives.

Set in a near-future England where the poorest people in the land
must watch their children be taken by a travelling circus - to
perform at the mercy of hungry lions, sabotaged high wires and
a demonic ringmaster.

The ruling class visit the circus as an escape from their structured,
high-achieving lives - pure entertainment with a bloodthirsty
edge.

Ben, the teenage son of a draconian government minister, visits
the circus for the first time and falls instantly in love
with Hoshiko, a young performer.

They come from harshly different worlds - but must join together
to escape the circus and put an end to its brutal sport.

• All the pace, action and danger of The Hunger Games


• all the star-crossed romance of Noughts and Crosses


• this book packs some powerful political punches which never compromise
  the moving, brave and dramatic story.


• The mesmerising, heart-in-mouth action set pieces in the circus
  are breathtakingly tense