?A sprawling beautiful delight of a novel spanning nearly a century as four generations
gradually peel back the layers of long-buried family secrets that may just change everything.
... I immensely enjoyed this sweeping heartrending emotional roller coaster of a tale which
made me laugh cry and think about the true meaning of family. ? Kristin Harmel New York
Times bestselling author of The Paris Daughter Orphan Train meets Before We Were Yours meets
Water for Elephants in this compelling multigenerational novel of survival love and the
families we make. In 1924 four-year-old Cecily Larson's mother reluctantly drops her off at an
orphanage in Chicago promising to be back once she's made enough money to support both Cecily
and herself. But she never returns and shortly after high-spirited Cecily turns seven she is
sold to a traveling circus to perform as the ?little sister? to glamorous bareback rider
Isabelle DuMonde. With Isabelle and the rest of the circus Cecily finally feels she's found
the family she craves. But as the years go by the cracks in her little world begin to show.
And when teenage Cecily meets and falls in love with a young roustabout named Lucky she finds
her life thrown onto an entirely unexpected?and dangerous?course. In 2015 Cecily is now 94 and
living a quiet life in Minnesota with her daughter granddaughter and great-grandson. But
when her family decides to surprise her with an at-home DNA test the unexpected results not
only bring to light the tragic love story that Cecily has kept hidden for decades but also
throw into question everything about the family she's raised and claimed as her own for nearly
seventy years. Cecily and everyone in her life must now decide who they really are and what
family?and forgiveness?really mean. Sweeping through a long period of contemporary history The
Hidden Life of Cecily Larson is an immersive compelling and entertaining family drama
centered around one remarkable woman and her determination to survive.
