The Night Circus
Two young magicians are pitted against each other in a mysterious competition set within a fantastical circus that only appears at night, but their growing love threatens to unravel everything.
Where The Night Circus keeps showing up
22 of our editors' lists feature this novel.
Also by Erin Morgenstern
Books in conversation with The Night Circus
A few of the closest reads from our full list.
What you might want to know about The Night Circus
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Le Cirque des Reves arrives without warning, opens only after sunset, and stays as long as it stays. Two old magicians have bound their students Celia Bowen and Marco Alisdair to a slow contest settled inside the circus, and over years of new black-and-white tents the two competitors fall in love.
No. The Night Circus is a standalone Erin Morgenstern novel. Her second novel, The Starless Sea (2019), is independent of The Night Circus, though it shares her atmospheric literary fantasy approach.
Yes. A film adaptation has been in development for years with David Heyman producing. As of 2025, the project remains in development.
The Night Circus was written by Erin Morgenstern, published in 2011 by Doubleday.
The Night Circus is 401 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Night Circus takes most readers 6 to 9 hours to finish.
The Night Circus is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
