I empathize strongly with both Lilly and Julia, the circus and Blackwood Manor are particularly vivid settings, and the issues of child & animal abuse are important and well incorporated here. However, I was a bit iffy on Julia’s POV: while I liked watching her grow into taking charge of the manor, I don’t think her storyline added all that much to Lilly’s story, which was the main attraction (no pun intended) for me. Actually, come to think of it, it might have undermined it by giving away the plot progression ahead of time, removing suspense.