Name: We Walked the Sky
ISBN: 9780451480804

Lisa Fiedler

Seventeen-year-old Victoria escapes an abusive father by joining the VanDrexel Family Circus in 1965, and fifty years later her writings guide her granddaughter, sixteen-year-old Callie, in facing the uncharted waters of public high school.

We Walked the Sky

A stunning, multigenerational story about two teenagers: Victoria, who joins the circus in 1965, and her granddaughter, Callie, who leaves the circus fifty years later. Perfect for fans of This is Us. In 1965 seventeen-year-old Victoria, having just escaped an unstable home, flees to the ultimate place for dreamers and runaways--the circus. Specifically, the VanDrexel Family Circus where, among the lion tamers, roustabouts, and trapeze artists, Victoria hopes to start a better life. Fifty years later, Victoria's sixteen-year-old granddaughter Callie is thriving. A gifted and focused tightrope walker with dreams of being a VanDrexel high wire legend just like her grandmother, Callie can't imagine herself anywhere but the circus. But when Callie's mother accepts her dream job at an animal sanctuary in Florida just months after Victoria's death, Callie is forced to leave her lifelong home behind. Feeling unmoored and out of her element, Callie pores over memorabilia from her family's days on the road, including a box that belonged to Victoria when she was Callie's age. In the box, Callie finds notes that Victoria wrote to herself with tips and tricks for navigating her new world. Inspired by this piece of her grandmother's life, Callie decides to use Victoria's circus prowess to navigate the uncharted waters of public high school. Across generations, Victoria and Callie embrace the challenges of starting over, letting go, and finding new families in unexpected places.

Grace O'Callaghan

CW: Abusive parent, harmed animal, death of an animal, death of a loved one

‘We Walked the Sky’ follows Victoria as she runs away to the circus to get away from her abusive father in 1965. Cut to present day we then follow Cali, Victoria’s granddaughter, who’s moved with her mother to an animal sanctuary away from the circus after her grandmother’s death. Told in alternating timelines, we find out more about each of their lives and what the circus and tightrope means to them. 

I’m not really sure where to begin with this really. If you’re looking for a pretty straightforward multigenerational story about the highs and lows of being in a circus, this does the job. But other than that there’s nothing here that I haven’t seen in other books.

The alternating timelines didn’t really work for me as I only really cared about Victoria and her life in the circus. Cali’s storyline was fairly bland in comparison, I think more needed to be happening with her.

Victoria was by far my favourite character with her determination and strength to get away from her abusive father. I loved seeing her get better at the tightrope and grow as a person.
Cali on the other hand was incredibly selfish and whiny, which I wouldn’t have minded if she’d learned from it but her growth is extremely sped up at the end that I just don’t believe it.

I think this book perfectly captures what a three star read is to me. It’s something that does nothing that I inherently dislike but could’ve quite easily put down and not given much thought to ever again. There are elements that I like but the execution just personally wasn’t my favourite.

Of course I’ll always have a soft spot for circus settings, but I definitely wouldn’t recommend it to anyone that has no interest in them.

Overall, if you’re new to circus fiction or want to dip your toes into historical fiction, I’d recommend this book. If you’ve read a lot from the genre then I don’t think you’ll really gain much from it as it doesn’t do anything new.

Brittany Mitchell

This was such a great story. I laughed, cried and enjoyed all of it.

The Nature of Pages

The vintage feel of Victoria's perspective adds so much to the story. In the wake of my The Greatest Showman obsession, this felt like nostalgia and a hug all wrapped up into one book. I adored Victoria's parts of the book and eagerly waited to see what was next.

We Walked the Sky is an absolute piece of art. ART, I tell you!From Victoria's whimsical dreams of freedom and Callie's longing for her place she calls home, the book is a siren song to all who know what it feels like to dream of adventure. The plot line kept me intrigued and interested, though I did find myself wishing there were more of Victoria's parts in between Callie's.

The characters are cleverly thought-out and unique! I definitely relate to Victoria's point of view more though - she just has a delightful way of taking the reader's thoughts and voicing them on the page. Callie felt a tad distant and harder to connect to, but that's part of her personality played out on the page. All in all, wonderful character building and plot!

We Walked the Sky is an amazing novel for the dreamers, the adventurers, and the hopeful! I cannot wait to read more of Lisa Fielder's books and see We Walked the Sky in bookstores everywhere!