Something Wicked This Way Comes

First published in 1962, this novel is set in a small Illinois town in late October. Two boys, Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade, watch a traveling carnival arrive a week before Halloween, led by the illustrated man Mr Dark and the blind dust-witch. The carnival's carousel and sideshows offer to change age and desire; adults who accept the bargain become exhibits. Will's father, the library janitor Charles Halloway, is drawn into the fight to understand and resist the show. The book is a dark fantasy of friendship and temptation, not a realistic story of Midwestern boyhood.

Bound in yellow cloth blocked in black and red. Yellow image blocked slipcase.