The Electric Woman

A Memoir in Death-Defying Acts

By: Tessa Fontaine

Narrated by: Tessa Fontaine

The Electric Woman is Tessa Fontaine's astonishing audiobook memoir about a life-affirming journey of loss and self-discovery. Narrated by the author, this audiobook recounts Tessa's life on the road with the last traveling American sideshow and her relationship with an adventurous, spirited mother.

Turns out, one lesson applies to living through illness, keeping the show on the road, letting go of the person you love most, and eating fire:

The trick is there is no trick.
You eat fire by eating fire.

Two journeys—a daughter’s and a mother’s—bear witness to this lesson in The Electric Woman.

For three years Tessa Fontaine lived in a constant state of emergency as her mother battled stroke after stroke. But hospitals, wheelchairs, and loss of language couldn’t hold her mother back; she and her husband would see Italy together, come what may. Thus Fontaine became free to follow her own piper, a literal giant inviting her to “come play” in the World of Wonders, America’s last traveling sideshow. How could she resist?

Transformed into an escape artist, a snake charmer, and a high-voltage Electra, Fontaine witnessed the marvels of carnival life: intense camaraderie and heartbreak, the guilty thrill of hard-earned cash exchanged for a peek into the impossible, and, most marvelous of all, the stories carnival folks tell about themselves. Through these, Fontaine trained her body to ignore fear and learned how to keep her heart open in the face of loss.

A story for anyone who has ever imagined running away with the circus, wanted to be someone else, or wanted a loved one to live forever, The Electric Woman is ultimately about death-defying acts of all kinds, especially that ever constant: good old-fashioned unconditional love.

Critic reviews

"With the crisp, slightly gravelly voice of someone who eats fire for a living, author Tessa Fontaine narrates her powerful, heartfelt story about transformations, loss, mothers, and daughters." -<i>AudioFile</i>

Liked ittt

I like circus things and life lessons. Having a parent who is ill at the moment, it was comforting to me

not carnies

she gives a good insider view of a world most of us could never know

How vividly I was swept away with the story. I could see each and every detail of each setting.

I love that this is a true story and the way it made me feel. The feeling of taking a risk and letting life take you where you never thought you would be going.

Incredible

Life-changing must-read (or must-listen). Beautiful, brave, humbling, with astonishingly vivid imagery. Just so beautifully written.

I loved this book.

I love adventure books, they take me places I will never go, doing things I will never do. This book is both of those and I enjoyed every minute of it . This was also the first book that held my attention from beginning to end, no rewinding to go back to the place I was before I drifted away.
I especially appreciated that the author was also the narrator.