What would you do if your house was falling into the ocean, you had just lost your job, and your long-lost sister appeared out of thin air from the circus? Well, if you are Simon, you would become entranced with an old, worn-out book that was mysteriously left on your doorstep. Convinced that his sister is doomed to die in a couple of weeks and that there is something off about his dead mother's relationship with his neighbor, he tries his hardest to follow the clues laid out in this book in order to save his family (past and present). But what lies in the book is an even more interesting story about a mute boy, Amos, who is taken in by a circus over a century ago as a wild boy. He falls deeply in love with Evangeline who, unbeknownst to him, is a murderer trying to escape her past.
These two stories are full of family mystery, tarot cards, quirky love affairs and people being called to water. If you like fantastical historical fiction like The Night Circus and The Museum of Extraordinary Things, then The Book of Speculation is for you. I found myself intrigued with Amos's story, overwhelmed with Simon's, and because of both, read non-stop from beginning to end.