Show Stopper  (English, Paperback, Barker Hayley)

A dazzling, high-octane read filled with death-defying acrobatics, circus crowds with an appetite for disaster, and two forbidden teenage lovers trying to escape the shackles of their very different lives. Set in a near-future England where the poorest people in the land must watch their children be taken by a travelling circus - to perform at the mercy of hungry lions, sabotaged high wires and a demonic ringmaster. The ruling class visit the circus as an escape from their structured, high-achieving lives - pure entertainment with a bloodthirsty edge. Ben, the teenage son of a draconian government minister, visits the circus for the first time and falls instantly in love with Hoshiko, a young performer. They come from harshly different worlds - but must join together to escape the circus and put an end to its brutal sport. All the pace, action and danger of The Hunger Games all the star-crossed romance of Noughts and Crosses this book packs some powerful political punches which never compromise the moving, brave and dramatic story. The mesmerising, heart-in-mouth action set pieces in the circus are breathtakingly tense