Ascension

Author: Steven Galloway
Published: 2003
Genres: Fiction
Rating: 3.5

Summary
Transylvania in 1919 is a place of poverty and persecution for the Rom people. Tragedy strikes early in Salvo's life when his parents are killed and he is separated from his brother and sister. Thus begins nearly a lifetime of being forced to flee from suspicion and misfortune that takes the reader from Europe to the US to British Columbia’s Fraser Valley and back to Manhattan via the medium of tight-rope walking in the circus.

Review
The author's writing style is very fluid. The characters are intriguing but not particularly sympathetic. Beginning the story with the main character's death--while a common writing element--is an error in this case. It makes the novel feel anti-climactic.

Notes
Somehow I mistakenly believed this story to be loosely based on the life of an actual individual. Don't make that error; it is purely fiction.