Yes! I was literally thinking about Mrs. Pollifax at the carnival when I was typing, then forgot to post it. Gilman does use the carnival as a setting, but she suggests that she'll really engage with it by having Mrs. Pollifax pose as a part of it - and in a really revealing, juicy, stakes-raising way too - only to not do it and do something boring instead. WHYYYY.

Or all the many books that are about people growing wings or horses born with wings and then NOBODY EVER FLIES.