The Life She Was Given

By: Ellen Marie Wiseman

Narrated by: Lori Gardner

From acclaimed author Ellen Marie Wiseman comes a vivid, daring novel about the devastating power of family secrets - beginning in the poignant, lurid world of a Depression-era traveling circus and coming full circle in the transformative 1950s.

On a summer evening in 1931, Lilly Blackwood glimpses circus lights from the grimy window of her attic bedroom. Lilly isn't allowed to explore the meadows around Blackwood Manor. She's never even ventured beyond her narrow room. Momma insists it's for Lilly's own protection, that people would be afraid if they saw her. But on this unforgettable night, Lilly is taken outside for the first time - and sold to the circus sideshow.

More than two decades later, 19-year-old Julia Blackwood has inherited her parents' estate and horse farm. For Julia, home was an unhappy place full of strict rules and forbidden rooms, and she hopes that returning might erase those painful memories. Instead, she becomes immersed in a mystery involving a hidden attic room and photos of circus scenes featuring a striking young girl.

At first The Barlow Brothers' Circus is just another prison for Lilly. But in this ragtag, sometimes brutal world, Lilly discovers strength, friendship, and a rare affinity for animals. Soon, thanks to elephants Pepper and JoJo and their handler, Cole, Lilly is no longer a sideshow spectacle but the circus' biggest attraction...until tragedy and cruelty collide.

It will fall to Julia to learn the truth about Lilly's fate and her family's shocking betrayal and find a way to make Blackwood Manor into a place of healing at last. Moving between Julia's and Lilly's stories, Ellen Marie Wiseman portrays two extraordinary, very different women in a novel that, while tender and heartbreaking, offers moments of joy and indomitable hope.

©2017 Ellen Marie Wiseman (P)2017 Recorded Books

Couldn't stop listening!

Hard to put down and riveting till the very end. This book gave me a book hangover. That feeling where the story was so good you may not ever find something to compare.

An All-Day Listening Read

I literally listened to it one full day. There were many turns in the plot and it really did not end the way I wanted it to. I would read more of Ellen Marie Wiseman’s books

Great Beginning/ Shallow ending

I was so I love with this book right from the beginning. I found the information about circus life and the culture of the 1930’s intriguing. I loved Lilly. Sometimes the story seemed too simple, too elementary. The ending of the book was predictable, too transparent and child like. The book kept my interest until the end !!

wonderful, one I will remember

I absolutely adored it. Didn't want it to end. Historical fiction at its best!!! Ellen Marie Wiseman is a genius author.

Well done, but so SAD!

tears guaranteed…. a good story, but it ripped my heart out. Not sure what else to say.