Nathalie arrives at the circus in Vladivostok fresh out of fashion school in Geneva. She is there to design the costumes for a trio of artists who are due to perform one of the most dangerous acts of all – the Russian Bar act. What ensues is an intimate and beguiling account of four people learning to work with and trust one another. At its heart, this is a book about the delicate balance that must be achieved when flirting with death in such spectacular fashion, set against the backdrop of a cloudy ocean and plunging the reader into Dusapin’s trademark dreamlike prose.