The Troupe, by Robert Jackson Bennett

I picked up The Troupe because it had a striking cover.  While I never "judge a book by it's cover" the cover art will draw me to pick up a book and check out the back.  And this story promised me a glimpse into the shadowed world of vaudeville and a mysterious troupe that seems to alter reality in whatever town it stops in.  I was hooked!

The book follows a boy, gifted pianist George Carole, who is searching for his father.  Because of a faded poster left behind with his mother's things he believes it's Heironomo Silenus, vaudeville star.  As George looks into this possibility, he realizes that while Heironomo Silenus is famous and always has a sold out audience, no one can remember what he does.  The other bizarre acts, a woman who seems lost in her own world but can bend steel beams with her bare hands, an ethereal dancer who claims to be a Prussian princess, and a man with uncommonly clever puppets are well remembered, but Silenus is a mystery.

Catching up with Silenus' troupe is more difficult than George expected.  Once he finally meets Silenus face to face, George slowly realizes that trying to find his father has become a very dangerous endeavor.  Because Silenus has made a lot of enemies throughout his life and strange, bland men are closing in on the troupe.

I love the world that Bennett created here.  All of his characters were complex and genuine.  As the story behind Silenus is slowly revealed, I hurt for him.  I felt George's pain in trying to find Silenus, only to find out Silenus barely remembered George's mother and wasn't interested in forming a relationship with him.  The other performers are secretive and suspicious, also shutting George out of their lives.  But George is persistent and eventually learns the secrets behind Silenus' act.  The troupe is responsible for finding pieces of The First Song, the song that began creation.  If the song is not collected and sung, the world will be eaten away by the darkness of nonexistence.

I admit, when I read the final confrontation, I totally cried.  I don't want to give anything away because this was a great stand-alone book that deserves to be discovered.