Over time, Marco discovers that Celia is the person he will have to duel. When he is sent away to study under Chandresh at the Night Circus, Marco sends the fortune teller, Isobel, who is also his girlfriend, to spy on Celia and her development as a magician. While Celia and Marco are not aware that they are each other’s destined opponents, all of their actions are part of an elaborate game of magical chess that only one of them will survive. Chandresh also hires Celia Bowen as an illusionist and, in turn, unknowingly establishes the Night Circus as a venue for the impending magical battle between Celia and Marco. Inspired by Prospero’s challenge, The Man in Grey locates a pupil of his own, a young orphan named Marco Alasdair, to whom he teaches the ways of “old magic.” Upon turning 18, Marco is sent to work for Chandresh Christopher Lefevre, who is the creator of the Night Circus, a mysterious traveling circus featuring mesmerizing-and sometimes magical-shows and exhibits. Though Prospero does not wish to raise his child, he nevertheless becomes fascinated by Celia’s mastery of “new magic.” Prospero immediately contacts his former teacher, the Man in Grey, and requests a duel to the death between their magical protégés: a clash of old magic and new.

Risking their lives, Celia and Marco jump into the bonfire at the center of Le Cirque des Rêves to escape the consequences of the competition, and end up together in a state of semi-immortality within the confines of the circus itself.The novel opens in 1873, as five year-old Celia Bowen is left at the office of Prospero the Entertainer, her estranged magician father, after her mother’s suicide. To be together, they must break the binding rules of the competition. Barris, the circus engineer, Celia and her opponent begin to collaborate eventually, Marco reveals himself, and he and Celia fall in love despite their guardians’ protests. Before realizing that Marco is her competitor, Celia begins to feel a strong connection to him through his magical creations in Le Cirque des Rêves. Celia and Marco then find themselves involved in a mysterious competition without their consent, left to fulfill their guardians’ wishes and compete until only one of them is left standing. He took little interest in Celia until he recognized her immense natural talent for magic and realized that she could be of use to him in his longstanding rivalry with another old magician, Mr. Celia met her father, Hector Bowen, when she was five years old, after her lovesick mother committed suicide. Celia Bowen is an illusionist with Le Cirque des Rêves, the titular night circus her performances in the circus are part of her competition with her fellow magician, Marco Alisdair.

The night circus book