Nights at the Circus (1984), winner of the 1984 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. The novel focuses on the life and exploits of orphan Sophie Fevvers, a woman who is – or so she would have people believe – a Cockney virgin, hatched from an egg laid by unknown parents and ready to develop fully fledged wings. At the time of the story, she has become a celebrated aerialiste, and she captivates the young journalist Jack Walser, who runs away with the circus and falls into a world that his journalistic exploits had not prepared him to encounter. Nights at the Circus was the first to bring Angela Carter widespread acclaim.