Harvill Secker has unveiled an innovative piece of online marketing for what promises to be the publishing sensation of 2011, Erin Morgenstern's debut novel The Night Circus. The circus gates have been opened at www.nightcircus.co.uk.

For two marvellous months, from today until Halloween, visit www.nightcircus.co.uk  to enter the magical world of The Night Circus. Working with Failbetter Games (the team behind the narrative web game Echo Bazaar), Harvill Secker has created a text-based online experience that is part game, part interactive fiction, allowing users to enter the mysterious world of the circus and explore the intriguing performances that take place in its many unusual tents. Based on characters and situations from the novel, the 'game' leads the user down narrative paths that gradually pick up momentum as the user finds fragments of text. As well as acquiring 'mementoes' which can be employed at later stages to unlock secrets, users are encouraged to share their experiences on social networks. By bringing friends to the circus they increase their own ranking in the community and are drawn further into the dreamlike circus.