<DIV><DIV>Twelve-year-old Owen forgoes an orphan train that's headed west only to find himself falling in with a completely unexpected group of misfits—circus performers on the <I>River Palace</I>. As this floating circus makes its way down the Mississippi, Owen slowly discovers that his fellow workers aren't freaks, but loners, like he is. A brush with yellow-fever in New Orleans and a devastating storm threaten the boat and its passengers. But it's the menace of slave catchers that poses the greatest danger of all, and will put Owen's loyalty to a freed black man to the test. </DIV></DIV>