“Running away with the circus” has become a cliché for leaving home with no real plan other than the leaving. So what if it had happened, back when circuses lived on America’s railways and work was tremendously hard to find, that someone jumped a train only to find himself travelling with a circus. What if he had no home to which to return and a skill the circus needed? What if love at first sight came his way too?

In Sara Gruen’s telling, the upside of being employed and near one’s true love might outweigh the downside of working in a just-getting-by circus, but just barely. In her world—a meticulously researched one at that—the circus is 19 parts grit for every one part sequin. The big top show is the tip of an iceberg with a huge, seedy underside: sleeping in the animal cars, getting run out of town, not getting paid, feeding the menagerie meat you can’t bear to smell.

Still, there’s love and adventure, and Gruen finds them there too. Jacob Jankowski is thoughtlessly desperate when he hops the circus train. Barely finding a foothold there as an animal caretaker, he is taken with the lovely Marlena, a star in the show. She in turn is married to August, the circus’ wildly manic-depressive animal trainer and showman.

Gruen’s Depression-era America is torn between hope and despair, just like Jacob staring at Marlena night after night. His life isn’t for the meek, but amidst the hard times there are also acts of kindness, changes of heart, and the occasional couragous heart.