The Ringmaster's Daughter

jostein gaarder james anderson

Panina Manina, a trapeze artist, falls and breaks her neck. As the ringmaster bends over her, he sees around her neck an amber charm—just like the one he gave his own child before she was swept away in a torrent 16 years earlier. This tale is narrated by Petter, a precocious child and a fantasist, and perhaps Jostein Gaarder’s most intriguing creation since Sophie. Petter makes his living selling stories and ideas to authors suffering from writer’s block. It’s a lucrative trade, but as he sits like a spider in the center of his web, Petter finds himself in a trap of his own making. Jostein Gaarder is the author of Sophie's World, a huge bestseller in over 40 countries.

Genres fictionphilosophycontemporarynovelsfantasyscandinavian literaturemagical realismliteratureromanadult

224 pages, Paperback

First published July 12,2000

Places

norway,

This edition

Format: 224 pages, Paperback
Published: September 1, 2003 by Phoenix
ISBN: 9780753817001
ASIN: 0753817004
Language: English

Characters More characters

Maria

Robert Jordans young lover.more...
Terry Dawson

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Peter Duchene

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Petter Si Laba-laba

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About the author

jostein gaarder

Jostein Gaarder is a Norwegian intellectual and author of several novels, short stories, and children's books. Gaarder often writes from the perspective of children, exploring their sense of wonder about the world. He often uses meta-fiction in his works, writing stories within stories.

Gaarder was born into a pedagogical family. His best known work is the novel Sophie's World, subtitled "A Novel about the History of Philosophy." This popular work has been translated into fifty-three languages; there are over thirty million copies in print, with three million copies sold in Germany alone.

In 1997, he established the Sophie Prize together with his wife Siri Dannevig. This prize is an international environment and development prize (USD 100,000 = 77,000 €), awarded annually. It is named after the novel.