A snake-oil shyster in a travelling show comes across real magic in this twisted alchemical misadventure. The year is 1878. Dr Alexander Potter, disgraced Civil War surgeon, now snake-oil salesman, travels the Pacific Northwest with a disheartened company of strongmen, fortune-tellers, and musical whores. Under their mysterious and murderous leader they entertain the masses while hawking the Chock-a-saw Sagwa Tonic, a vital elixir touted to cure all ills both physical and spiritual. For a few unfortunate customers, however, the Sagwa offers something much, much worse. • For fans of The Night Circus and Something Wicked This Way Comes • An exciting new voice in the fantasy genre that brings alive a tantalising world of carnival folk and dark alchemical sorcery