Nights at the Circus is a novel by British writer Angela Carter, first published in 1984 and the winner of the 1984 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. The novel focuses on the life and exploits of Sophie Fevvers, a woman who is – or so she would have people believe – a Cockney virgin, hatched from an egg laid by unknown parents and ready to develop fully fledged wings. At the time of the story, she has become a celebrated aerialiste. She captivates the young journalist Jack Walser, who runs away with the circus and falls into a world that his journalistic exploits had not prepared him to encounter.

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Nights at the Circus

First edition
Author	Angela Carter
Cover artist	Barbara Kaiser[1]
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Publisher	Chatto & Windus
Publication date	4 March 1984
Pages	295
ISBN	0-14-007703-0
OCLC	12558119
Dewey Decimal	823/.914 19
LC Class	PR6053.A73 N5 1986

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Nights at the Circus incorporates multiple categories of fiction, including postmodernism, magical realism, and postfeminism. As in her previous works, Carter plays with many literary aspects and dissects the traditional fairy tale structure.

In 1994, the novel was broadcast by BBC Radio 4 as a series of readings. It was read by Lesley Manville, abridged by Neville Teller and directed by Neil Cargill.

In 2006, it was adapted for the stage by Tom Morris and Emma Rice for the Kneehigh Theatre Company. The play was performed at the Lyric Hammersmith in London and the Bristol Old Vic before touring.

• Fevvers, christened Sophie – the self-defined winged aerialiste who acts as the focal point for the circus' success. She is six feet two inches tall, curvaceous, peroxide blonde.
• Jack Walser – a California native that stowed away on a departing ship at a young age. He became a journalist and interviewed Fevvers before running away with the circus to try to discover the truth of her story.
• Lizzie – Fevvers' adoptive mother, a former prostitute, and political activist/revolutionary who may have occult powers
• Ma Nelson – the well-loved proprietor of the bordello where Fevvers grew up
• Madame Schreck – The owner of a female freak show that also functioned as a whorehouse of sorts.
• Toussaint – The male servant of Madame Schreck who was born without a mouth
• Christian Rosencreutz – a rich religious maniac who believes Fevvers is a fallen angel and attempts to sacrifice her
• Colonel Kearney – The extravagant capitalist and owner of the circus
• Little Ivan – the son of Olga Alexandrovna; attempts to run away with the circus but is prevented from doing so by Walser
• Sybil – Colonel Kearney's pet pig, intelligent and clairvoyant, whom he unquestioningly relies on to make nearly all of his business decisions
• Princess of Abyssinia – The tiger tamer and piano player who falls in love with Mignon
• Monsieur Lamarck – Mignon's abusive alcoholic husband and the monkey trainer of the circus.
• Mignon – initially a circus hanger-on who transmutes into a beautiful singer who dances the waltz with tigers and falls in love with the Princess
• Samson – The strong man of the circus and Mignon's lover before she falls in love with the Princess
• The Professor – the head monkey who tricks Colonel Kearney into allowing the chimps to leave the circus
• Buffo the Great – The leader of the clowns
• The Charivaris – A family of trapeze artists and tightrope walkers who try to kill Fevvers out of jealousy and from then on carry a curse, doomed to never perform well again
• The Grand Duke – A member of the Russian aristocracy who unsettles and scares Fevvers with automata and insinuation to the point where she almost loses control of her own narrative
• Countess P. – a cruel and rich woman who kills her husband, gets away with it, but feels bad about the crime nonetheless. She builds a panopticon in Transbaikalia and tries to reform other murderesses but only succeeds in turning both the prisoners and the guards against her
• Olga Alexandrovna – a prisoner of the panopticon and the first to instigate contact with one of the guards. She is also the mother of little Ivan and finds Walser after the train wreck
• The Shaman – the spiritual leader of the village who takes Walser under his wing when he suffers from amnesia
• The Maestro – The master of a music school in Transbaikalia that has no students. He eventually provides shelter for what is left of the circus after they escape from the convict camp

Though it was one of the later books of her career, Nights at the Circus was the first to bring Angela Carter widespread acclaim, winning that year's James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. Carter's penultimate novel was met with mixed reviews, some uncomfortable with the underlying politically driven content, while others praised it for its playfulness and originality.^{[citation needed]} Many critics viewed Fevvers as a winged version of the New Woman, able to escape the trappings of a patriarchal nineteenth century and move on into the twentieth century of feminist liberation. However, some feminists were disappointed with the novel, criticizing it for upholding a post-feminist stance.^{[citation needed]} Since Angela Carter's death in 1992, both the novel and her reputation have reached even greater levels of popularity. Since then, the novel has made its way onto many academic syllabi and was adapted for the stage by Tom Morris and Emma Rice in 2006.

Nights at the Circus inspired British musician Bishi's first album, which has the same title.

On 5 November 2019, the BBC News listed Nights at the Circus on its list of the 100 most influential novels.^[2]

• 1984 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction^[3]
• 2012 Best of the James Tait Black, winner^[3][4][5]