Project Gutenberg 2008-08-09 Public domain in the USA. 299 Castaigne, J. André 1861 1929 Castaigne, J. Andre Castaigne, André Castaigne, Andre Castaigne, A. (André) The Bill-Toppers Illustrated by the author. Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "The Bill-Toppers" by J. André Castaigne is a fictional novel written in the early 20th century. The story follows the journey of a family of entertainers, primarily focusing on young Lily Clifton, a talented trick cyclist, as her father, P. T. Clifton, strives to make her a star in the world of performance. This narrative delves into themes of ambition, the harsh realities of show business, and the dynamics of family relationships within the context of their travels across various countries. The opening of the book introduces us to the Cliftons on a voyage to Calcutta, where P. T. Clifton dreams of showcasing his daughter Lily, who has already garnered acclaim in Australia. As they travel, we see Lily grow up amidst the rigors of the circus lifestyle, gaining skills and confidence as she learns the tricks of the trade from her father and interacts with other performers. The excerpt captures their arduous life, full of travels and performances, as well as the interplay between ambition, parental expectations, and Lily's blossoming persona as an emerging star. The narrative sets the stage for the challenges the family will face in the competitive world of entertainment, hinting at both the excitement of the circus and the pressures that accompany it. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 81.9 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Vaudeville -- Fiction Stunt cycling -- Fiction PS Text Browsing: Literature Browsing: Performing Arts/Film Browsing: Fiction Category: Novels 708272 2025-06-11T04:37:58.120450 text/html 733251 2008-08-09T17:25:24 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 1278030 2008-08-09T17:25:28 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 1213640 2025-06-11T04:38:09.935877 application/epub+zip 1227721 2025-06-11T04:38:00.982421 application/epub+zip 348993 2025-06-11T04:37:59.321425 application/epub+zip 1477601 2025-06-11T04:38:16.637887 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 1421863 2025-06-11T04:38:08.575391 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 524750 2022-09-12T08:39:04.106461 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 636684 2025-06-11T04:37:56.491442 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 636558 2008-08-09T17:25:24 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 246639 2008-08-09T17:25:28 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 636552 2008-08-09T17:25:24 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 246569 2008-08-09T17:25:26 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 21281 2025-06-11T04:38:16.798853 application/rdf+xml 12650 2025-06-11T04:37:59.905426 image/jpeg 3341 2025-06-11T04:37:59.613443 image/jpeg 1192096 2025-06-11T04:37:58.242451 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog fr.wikipedia en.wikipedia