The Night Circus: Part 1: Primordium Summary & Analysis

The circus arrives unannounced with its black and white tents and the sign that reads, “Opens at Nightfall. Closes at Dawn.” As a crowd draws near at dusk, the lights come on to read Le Cirque des Rêves, and the doors open.

New York, 1873: Prospero the Enchanter finishes his magic show to find a five-year-old girl waiting for him with a note pinned to her chest. The girl is his daughter, Celia, and the note is from her mother, who has just committed suicide. He reads the note, unmoved. He considers the girl, telling her that her mother should have named her Miranda, but that she wasn’t clever enough to think of it. Angered, the little girl begins shaking the teacups on the table with her mind. “You might be interesting,” he says to her. A few months later, Prospero (whose real name is Hector Bowen) writes a letter to an old friend.

London, 1873: Hector and Celia meet with a mysterious man in a gray suit, whom Hector calls Alexander, although that is not his real name. First, the man criticizes Hector for passing off real magic as illusion, and then the men get down to business. Hector asks Celia to demonstrate her magical skills for the man, and at first she is reluctant, as Hector has told her in the past to keep her magic a secret. However, she impresses Alexander with her abilities: she levitates a pocket watch and then shatters it with her mind. The two men agree to a competition, pitting Celia against the competitor of Alexander’s choosing. Alexander places a ring on Celia’s finger, which shrinks and burns itself into her finger, leaving a scar.

The two magicians then discuss details of the competition and decide on a venue. Hector mentions that he knows of a theatrical producer named Chandresh Lefevre who could organize something appropriate. Alexander is uncomfortable with a public setting, but he finally relents, and the men also decide to have as few rules as possible, hoping to “push boundaries with this one.” Alexander is given the first move.

Alexander, whose name is really Mr. A.H., goes to a London orphanage to choose a child as his competitor. When he is presented with a nine-year-old boy with dark hair, the man throws his cane at the child, who catches it without flinching. Mr. A.H. chooses him as his new apprentice and tells him that they will leave right away. The boy asks if he has a choice, and Mr. A.H. responds by asking him if he wants to stay at the orphanage. He doesn’t want to stay, so they leave together. When the boy asks if the man wants to know his name, Mr. A.H. responds that the boy’s name “will not be necessary.”

1875-1880: Both Celia and the nameless boy go through a series of lessons in magic. Celia travels all over the United States and Europe with Hector for his magic shows, though he mainly abandons her in hotels or backstage. His lessons are irregular and unorthodox: Hector has Celia fix broken things with her mind, and he even slices her fingers open so she can heal herself, but Celia learns that she cannot repair living beings. He does not give her any information about the competition, however.

The boy lives in isolation with Mr. A.H. and studies from books and lectures, sometimes leaving the house to visit museums and libraries during off-hours, and occasionally to attend magic shows. Finally, one day the man gives the boy a ring, just as he did with Celia, and it shrinks and burns into his finger, as well. Mr. A.H. tells the boy that he is bound to “an obligation” and to someone he hasn’t met yet. The boy wonders who it is, but knows not to ask.

1884: At 19, the boy is living in his own flat in London and spends most of his time reading or taking long walks though the city. One evening he loses his notebook while out in the city, and he goes back to find a young woman reading it earnestly. He introduces himself as Marco Alisdair, the name he has chosen for himself, and she tells him her name is Isobel Martin, though he doubts that is her real name. They go out for a drink, and Isobel tells him that she understands some of the magic contained in his notebook; she herself can read tarot cards. Marco decides to show her some of his magic, which entrances her. He manipulates her perception of the world around her, so that the two of them are no longer on a rainy London street, but in a warm, glowing forest. They kiss.

Hector Bowen has retired from the stage and has devoted himself full-time to training Celia and hiring her out as a spiritual medium. Celia finds the experience excruciating and argues that it is not worth the money her customers pay. Her father restricts her food to keep her thin and waif-like, and she is working so hard that, one day, she faints during a session. Her father finally relents and lets her rest for three days. She wonders about the competition, but he offers her no information except that she will need to practice before beginning.

Back in Marco’s flat, Marco shows Isobel a magic charm involving knots and intent. He asks her to think of an item that is important to her, and then reads her mind—she is thinking of a ring, an engagement ring from an arranged marriage that she managed to escape in Barcelona. Their conversation is interrupted by a knock at the door.

Isobel hides in the study while Marco answers the door. Mr. A.H. does not enter, but stands in the doorway to inform Marco that he will be applying for a position with Chandresh Lefevre, a theater producer, and Marco recognizes that this is the beginning of the competition. Mr. A.H. mentions that the young man needs a name, to which Marco responds that he has already chosen one. Finally, Mr. A.H. reminds him, looking pointedly at the door of the study, that he should focus on the competition and avoid distractions.

Hector eventually decides to stay in New York rather than traveling with Celia, and he spends most of his time alone, locked in the parlor. One day Celia breaks into the room to find him working on a trick. His hand fades and then returns; he looks up at her and tells her it is none of her business what he is doing, and then slams the door in her face.

Chandresh Lefevre is in his home, throwing a knife across the room at a dartboard covered with a newspaper clipping. The clipping is a review of Lefevre’s recent production, which was described as “almost transcendent.” The producer is incensed at the word “almost,” which to him is a sign of failure. He throws the knife for the last time, and then calls for Marco, his assistant.

Concord, MA, 1897: A young boy named Bailey sits in an oak tree with his sister and their friends, playing Truth or Dare. On his turn, his sister dares him to break into the Night Circus. He agrees, recalling his previous night’s experience at the circus, noting that it was like “he had escaped his everyday life and wandered into another world.” He squeezes through the fence and wanders through the circus grounds until he comes upon a young girl with bright red hair. She tells him that he is not supposed to be there and helps him leave again. Before he goes, he asks for something to bring back as proof that he snuck in. The girl gives him one of her white gloves, calling him Bailey as he leaves the grounds. He only realizes once he is far from the circus that he never told the girl his name.

London, 1885: Chandresh Lefevre is known for his exclusive and extravagant Midnight Dinners. This one is different, though, because he invites a select group to help him design and execute a new kind of circus: there is Ethan Barris, who is an engineer and architect, as well as Tara and Lainie Burgess, who “do a little bit of everything” and will be indispensable for their keen eye for detail. There is also Mr. A.H., whose role in the circus is not specified. Once the guests are ready, Chandresh explains his plan and lays out sketches and notes. The guests are enthusiastic, and they all get down to work.

Meanwhile, in New York, Celia Bowen is opening sympathy cards and flowers in memory of her father Hector, who has been announced dead of heart failure. There are letters mentioning his beautiful daughter, and some even include strange proposals of marriage. Celia notes sarcastically that she is already married, touching the ring that Mr. A.H. placed on her finger. She receives one card that only states, “Your move.” Confused, she goes to find her father, who is not dead—he is in a state of half-life, only partially visible to others, not unlike a ghost—and asks what it means. Hector only laughs.

Chandresh conducts his Midnight Dinners about once a month to coordinate the details of his circus project. One evening, a heavily tattooed contortionist named Tsukiko arrives without warning and begins to perform for those in attendance. Chandresh hires her immediately, explaining that she is exactly what he wants for the circus.

In Munich, Ethan Barris meets with a clockmaker, Friedrick Thiessen, to commission a special clock for the circus. He explains that he wants something beyond what Thiessen has ever made before, “das Miesterwerk.” Barris specifies that it should be dreamlike, and that money is no issue. Thiessen creates a black-and-white clock that is perfect for the circus, according to Barris, and receives enough money to retire on. The clockmaker does not ask where the clock will be used, and he never thinks to go and visit it.

London, 1886: The circus organizers are holding auditions for an illusionist, and Celia Bowen is one of the candidates. Marco is supervising the auditions, and when he sees Celia for the first time, he is struck by her beauty. Chandresh comments that she looks too young and pretty to be an illusionist, suggesting that she could be a lovely assistant. Celia simply mentions that she has studied with her father, Prospero the Enchanter, which impresses Chandresh enough to let her audition. She turns Marco’s notebook into a white dove, which takes flight across the theater, and changes the color of her dress in front of Chandresh’s eyes. Chandresh hires her immediately and has Marco dismiss the rest of the candidates. He expresses his condolences for her father’s death and asks what happened to him. Celia only responds that his most recent magic trick “did not go entirely as planned.”

Marco is visibly shaken by his meeting with Celia, and Chandresh sends him home. He hurries back to search his books to try to understand how Celia performed her magic, and he ends up telling Isobel what happened. He has just realized that Celia is his opponent, and the circus is the venue for their competition. He is worried, however, because she is “too good.” Meanwhile, Isobel draws a single card from her tarot deck to reveal l’amoureaux, the lovers. Wanting to help Marco, Isobel offers to join the circus as a fortune-teller and keep watch over Celia, writing to Marco as often as she can.

Concord, MA 1902: Bailey, the young boy who snuck into the circus, is at the center of a family disagreement. His grandmother wants him to go to Harvard, while his father is determined that he will inherit and take over the family farm. Originally, his grandmother wanted his younger sister to attend Radcliffe College, but their father had said no, and his sister gave in immediately. Their grandmother changed her plans, deciding that Bailey would go to Harvard, inviting him to have tea with her in Cambridge on a regular basis.

Bailey would like to attend Harvard, and he discusses this with his mother and father, to no avail. At one of their teas, Bailey’s grandmother tells him she just wants him to have the opportunity to chase his dreams, whether they be Harvard or something else. His father, however, tells him he has no choice in the matter, and Bailey begins to spend as much time away from his home and family as possible. He is hiding out in the oak tree when he looks up and sees that the circus has returned.