The Starless Sea
Erin Morgenstern
A graduate student finds a strange book in his library and follows it toward a hidden underground world of stories, in a more tangled tale.
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Books like The Night Circus
The Night Circus is a lush, atmospheric fantasy about a mysterious circus that opens only at night. These seven books bring more hidden places, strange magic and bookish wonder.
Books to read next
Piranesi
Susanna Clarke
A man records his days in a vast, tide-washed house of endless halls and statues, in a dreamlike mystery.
The Shadow of the Wind
Carlos Ruiz Zafón
A boy in 1940s Barcelona is led to a hidden library, picks one book and searches for its author, in a darker, gothic mystery.
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Ray Bradbury
A sinister carnival arrives in a small Illinois town in October, in a nostalgic fantasy that is much darker in tone.
The Name of the Wind
Patrick Rothfuss
A legend now running an inn tells his life story, from a traveling troupe to a university of magic, at long and absorbing length.
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
Robin Sloan
A laid-off tech worker takes the night shift at a strange San Francisco bookstore and stumbles onto a centuries-old secret.
The Bear and the Nightingale
Katherine Arden
A girl who can see the household spirits of Russian folklore grows up in a remote, wintry village, in a fairy-tale mood.
How to choose
Choose by what you loved about the circus. For the same author, The Starless Sea is bookish and layered, with tales inside tales, and it favors atmosphere over a single plot. For a dreamlike mystery, Piranesi is the one. If a mysterious carnival was the draw, try Something Wicked This Way Comes, though it is darker. The Shadow of the Wind has the love of books and hidden places, along with wartime violence. Mr. Penumbra's is the lightest and the most modern. The Name of the Wind is the first of three planned books, and the third has not been published yet. The Bear and the Nightingale is the best fit for a cold evening.
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