Towards the end of the book, Jacob's family did not turn up for his family day out and he ended up walking slowly and excruciatingly towards the circus. I thought this was a bit of a cop out by the author - she wanted her ending but did not know how else to direct the storyline towards that ending she wanted. She took pains to stress that Jacob's family always turned up, but they didn't on that very important day of his. Maybe it was to emphasize that his family did him wrong up to that so very important day of his life, but it was a bit of a spoiler in an otherwise rather good book.