Roberta Writes – Guest post: Paradise on the Pike by Sarah Angleton #readingcommunity #historicalfiction

Today, I am delighted to welcome talented author, Sarah Angleton, to Roberta Writes with a post about her new novel, Paradise on the Pike.

Guest post: Sarah Angleton

Paradise on the Pike is a historical mystery set in Hagenbeck’s Zoological Paradise and Trained Animal Circus on the grounds of the 1904 World’s Fair in St Louis. By 1904, Carl Hagenbeck was already a well-known name in the animal trade, as a pioneer of more humane zoo design and gentler training methods. He brought those things to the Fair, which has been identified by some historians as the largest human zoo in history, where thousands of indigenous peoples from all over the world were on display.

The novel explores this uncomfortable parallel and the complexities of the uglier aspects of a world’s fair also defined by its awe-inspiring displays of industry and wonder. In the following scene, protagonist Max is beginning to question the quick, possibly racially motivated, assumptions made by detectives in the investigation of a murder at the Animal Paradise. The scene also incorporates a historical account included in a biography of Hagenbeck animal trainer Reuben Castang, in which Lizzie the elephant makes a surprise visit to Cheyenne Joe’s Cowboy Bar just outside the fairgrounds:

An apology half formed on Max’s tongue, stopped only by the simultaneous shift of every saloon patron’s attention toward the wide swinging doors as a large, gray elephant stepped inside Cheyenne Joe’s.

Max joined the others in turning toward the door where Lizzie struggled to slide her bulk through a doorway constructed with room enough for a cowboy to enter on horseback, but evidently designed without the consideration of an elephant’s requirements. From behind her boomed a sharp command from Reuben Castang. “Lizzie, crouch!”

With remarkable coordination, the elephant pushed her head forward and stretched her thick legs, dropping her back so she could inch her way through the frame as a cat might slink under the bottom edge of a fence. The cowboys sitting closest to the door whooped and jumped up to pull tables and chairs out of the way. At another word from her trainer, Lizzie settled on her belly in the empty space. Walking in behind her, Reuben carried a large piece of red and white checkered cloth that he luffed like a great sail over the top of the animal’s back, doing his best to smooth it over her as it fell.

“Joe!” Reuben called, stretching out a hand to indicate the recently displaced cowboys. “Drinks and sandwiches for the gentlemen at the elephant table. It’s all on Lizzie.”

Cheers and guffaws filled the saloon as the cowboys slid chairs back up to their unusually gracious hostess and attempted to balance their drinks on her back. Reuben took a bow, in complete command of an audience with much lifted spirits.

Max chortled along with them, glad for his accusatory comment to be so amusingly overshadowed. He turned to Lorenz and said, “Not a bad elephant show for a white Englishman.”

Lorenz shook his head and stood. With mirth on his lips, he lifted his mug in a toast to Reuben. “Never underestimate Reuben Castang. I should know that better than anyone.”

Lorenz reclaimed his seat and drained the last swallow of beer from his mug, before saying, “Look, Max, I wouldn’t worry too much about this murder business. The police have less evidence against Inesh than they have even against his tiny sister. And maybe there’s something to this gangster theory. They’ll be free again before you know it.”

“What do you mean they’ll be free?” Max asked, his question nearly swallowed by the noise of the boisterous crowd as Lizzie, apparently tired of playing the role of picnic table, stood to send food and drinks spilling to the floor.

Fearing the distraction would prove too great, Max repeated his question. Lorenz shrugged and ran his fingers through his thinning hair. “I’m sure there’s nothing to it at all, but they arrested Shehani, too.”

Max couldn’t speak. The muscles of his neck clinched, forcing waves of pain through the back of his head where the information he’d just received should be processed but instead was being violently rejected.

“Why?” It was the one word he could manage at last.

Lorenz failed to notice the question, absorbed as he was in Lizzie’s antics. The elephant shook off the last remnants of sandwich stuck to her hide and turned to squeeze her way out the door.

“Oh, God in heaven.” Lorenz pushed back his chair and slithered out from behind the table. “There she goes.”

Lizzie had managed to wiggle outside and bellowed a loud trumpet that faded as she ran farther away, Reuben scrambling behind her into the night.

The Blurb

1903

Twenty-year-old Max Eyer is still reeling from his father’s recent death when a mysterious stranger’s offer to buy the family farm outside of Hamburg, Germany presents to him and his mother an unexpected opportunity to make a fresh start in America.

Welcomed by his uncle’s bustling family in St. Louis, Max finds employment on the grounds of the upcoming 1904 World’s Fair, where he is hired as a zookeeper at Hagenbeck’s Animal Paradise on the Pike. Max’s enchantment with the trained animals shows, ostrich rides, and water sliding elephants is rivaled only by his fascination with Shehani, a beautiful Sinhalese woman who captivates the crowds of fairgoers by dancing among the lions.

However Max’s paradise unravels when a grisly discovery leads to an accusation of murder against the woman he loves. His efforts to uncover the truth may save her, but in this fantasy land of the fair where palaces are temporary, animals roam free, and people are on exhibit, will his own dreams be shattered by an ugly reality?

Purchase link

Purchase link for Paradise on the Pike

Book trailer

About Sarah Angleton

Sarah Angleton is a storyteller and history buff who has degrees in both zoology and literature and still isn’t quite sure what she wants to be when she grows up. A Midwestern girl at heart, she spent a brief time living and writing in the beautiful Pacific Northwest before settling near St. Louis where she currently resides with her husband, two sons, and a very loyal dog. She is the author of Launching Sheep & Other Stories, a humorous look at history from the perspective of everyday life, historical thrillers Gentleman of Misfortune and Smoke Rose to Heaven, the historical family saga White Man’s Graveyard, a Paradise on the Pike, a historical mystery set in the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis.

You can find all of Sarah’s book on Amazon USA here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B06XS5YFJX

You can find out more about Sarah on her website here: https://sarah-angleton.com/