The Circus and the Atom

Joseph Howse

Dec 2025 · Next Year's Snow Book 2 · Nummist Media

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310

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About this ebook

New Year 1988/1989: A theatre student, a taxi driver, a partisan, and a crook join a detective’s family in Kiev for an ill-fated reunion. They and the Soviet nation face a violent reckoning as old secrets and fugitive hopes emerge.

Winner of the 2026 Independent Press Award for Literary Fiction and for World Literature

Winner of the Best of Novel prize in the 2025 Sunspot Literary Journal Solar Flare Contest

Sequel to The Girl in the Water, winner of the 2023 Independent Press Award for Literary Fiction

“riveting … a high-stakes, character-driven drama infused with a palpable sense of political noir” —Printed Word Reviews

“another testament to [Howse’s] writing prowess” —BlueInk Review

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About the author

Joseph Howse writes fiction and poetry, as well as technical books on computer programming and image analysis. He lives in a Nova Scotian fishing village, where he chats with his cats and nurtures an orchard of hardy fruit trees. His debut novel, The Girl in the Water, has won the 2023 Independent Press Award for Literary Fiction and 2023 IAN Awards for Outstanding Multicultural Fiction. The sequel, The Circus and the Atom, has won the Best of Novel prize in the 2025 Sunspot Literary Journal Solar Flare Contest.

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