Contemporary Canadian Literature with a Distinctly Urban Twist

Anvil Press

Moss-Haired Girl: The Confessions of a Circus Performer

Moss-Haired Girl: The Confessions of a Circus Performer

  • canada orders CAD $16
  • us orders US $16
  • world (outside Canada/US) orders US $16

Joshua Chapman Green is searching for answers. He is combing through boxes in the attic of his recently deceased mother’s home and uncovering childhood memories, mysterious letters, and perplexing photos of people he does not know. They appear to be circus performers, members of a travelling freak show, or Victorian era sideshow performers. Then he finds a crumbling copy of Moss-Haired Girl: Confessions of a Circus Performer by Zara Zalinzi . . . the clasp falls away and the pages open revealing a family story that may or may not be fiction . . .


In this ambitious short novel, R.H. Slansky weaves a complex narrative about the very nature of narrative: it is an annotated re-issue of a fictional autobiography that casts a questioning eye on the reliability of family lore.


  • Publication: Fall 2014
  • ISBN: 978-1-77214-002-6
  • Pages: 72 pp
  • Size: 5.5 x 8 inches

R.H. Slansky grew up in a family of travelling circus performers. She now works in the myth-making world of film animation and writes fantastical stories at night. She has been writing since the age of four, and lives in the wonderful—but geographically unstable—city of San Francisco. Moss-Haired Girl is her first published novel. This is all true; or maybe it’s not.

Books by RH Slansky