SOLVED. Supernatural YA novel, carnival setting, albino major character [s]

[Barrayaran]

Supernatural YA novel, published 1980 or earlier, I think -- carnival setting, one of the main characters is a young albino man, believe he has telekinetic and possibly other powers. My impression is that the actual protagonist was a young woman, not the young man with the powers. And of course, they end up engaged in a fight with someone/something very evil.

Sorry I don't have more info...

[Kris]

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn?

[Isabel (kittiwake)]

Several children and a couple of teachers from a school for disabled orphans have strange encounters at a fair in a children's book called The Fair to Middling. Some of the encounters are quite positive, while others are more sinister, and one of the children is an albino boy who is tempted by someone who seems to be evil, maybe the devil himself. I seem to remember him being called by one of the folk names for the devil, maybe Mr Scratch?

[Barrayaran]

Kris & Isabel, thank you both for the suggestions, but I'm still looking.

I know it's not Geek Love -- published 1989 vs. 1980 or earlier.

The Fair to Middling sounds fascinating, but is not right either -- the book I remember was set in the US: I have a vague sense that it was in the midwest, in fact.

[Kris]

Blind Voices by Tom Reamy, perhaps?

[Barrayaran]

Good heavens -- I think that might be it. Kris, you're a wonder. How on earth did you find it?

[Kris]

Hope this is your book. Here's the search string I used on Google:

site:amazon.com albino carnival telekinetic

I find it helps to focus on Amazon.com because the user reviews are rich with details and keywords.

[Barrayaran]

That's clever. I'm usually google ninja, but not narrowing my search to a book-rich site like Amazon was clearly a miss in retrospect. Thank you for the title, and the info!

[Kris]

This one was tricky. Now that I think of it, that wasn't the Google search string as it pointed to "Geek Love". I don't recall the keywords now but, interestingly, Goodreads Listopia for "Circus/Carnival Books" does include "Blind Voices". Here's the link: http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/33... (scroll to #141)