Jack the Magic

Jack Henderson leads a very normal life for a boy growing up in Oklahoma in the 1940's. But with the start of the war, and a vicious serial killer stalking the women of Tulsa, his only escape is the circus that comes to town every summer. With its big top performance and sideshow wonders, Jack becomes obsessed with the oddities of the circus pupil, and builds dreams of his own act. Mesmerized by the talents and beauty of a mute contortionist girl who shares a soul with a performing leopard, he soon finds himself lost in a world that seems so separate from reality. But the more time he spends with his new friends that swallow swords, have two faces, and are part human part wolf, the more sense their world makes than the one spinning out of control around him. This coming of age story shares the most barbaric and beautiful sides of the human condition, and follows the journey of one boy into manhood, desperate to find his place in the world.