It’s 1915, the world is changing, but for teenaged twins Bolt and Eleanor—twins so close they read each other’s thought—their lives are falling apart. After their mother dies, they leave home under the care of a slimy con man claiming to be long-lost uncle Charlie. When a late-night poker game ends in murder from one of Charlie’s rages, the twins decide it’s time to get out of there.
They soon land in the care of Mr. Jengling, founder of the Emporium of Wonders. Jengling adopts Bolt and Eleanor, and along with the other members of the Emporium, they travel by train across the vast, brutal American frontier. Their exhibition sparks amazement with each stop. With the three-legged lady Minnie, the giant Dr. Chui, noseless clown Thistle Britches, and psychic Rosalie, the twins now are part of a family.
But as they learn they’re now part of something bigger, Bolt finds Eleanor pulling away as he discovers more about their new clan. When Uncle Charlie picks up their trail, the twins find themselves facing a danger as weird as it is horrifying, one which will forever alter the trajectory of their lives.
Why we’re excited about this book:
A new book from Dan Chaon is definitely a cause for celebration regardless of whatever genre he’s working in. The author of You Remind Me of Me, Await Your Reply, Stay Awake, Ill Will, and Sleepwalk, Chaon’s short fiction is collected in Fitting Ends and Among the Missing, and has been featured in such publications as The Best Horror of the Year Volume 5. With his latest, Chaon gives us a historical tale about misfits and found family, and the terrifying fear of being alone in a cruel, uncaring world. Stephen Graham Jones (The Buffalo Hunter Hunter) says: “I’ve run off to join the circus, Ma! It’s Dan Chaon’s. And I don’t ever want to leave.”. Kirkus says : “Chaon has also delivered a sharp thriller … Set mainly in 1915, the novel captures a vanished vaudeville world that Chaon resurrects in thoughtful detail, down to the era’s slang (ziggety, conflustered, woofits). But in its latter chapters, the novel is also powerfully otherworldly, deliberately warping assumptions about life, death, and the nature of souls … . A magic trick: A novel that’s both deeply unsettling and tenderhearted.”, and Paul Tremblay (Horror Movie) says: “Only in Dan Chaon’s hands does a rollicking tale of a traveling sideshow carnival, serial killer, and psychic orphaned twins become a complex, soaring elegy for an America that never was and never will be. One of Us is a brilliant novel and a beating heart in the darkness.”
Releasing from Henry Holt and Co. 23 September 2025, One of Us by Dan Chaon is available for pre-order now.
BOB PASTORELLA