Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed on 4/8/2023 + 1181 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

Another enjoyable novel from Hoffman. I have read several of her books and have really enjoyed most of them. This one takes place in New York and Brooklyn in 1911 and is told from the perspectives of Coralie Sardie, the daughter of the owner of the Coney Island attraction â The Museum of Extraordinary Things â and Eddie Cohen, a Russian Jewish immigrant who has left his community and is striving to work as a photographer. Coralie is watched over by her beloved but acid-scarred family housekeeper, Maureen, and lives with her father above the museum. At first Coralie loves and respects her father but on her tenth birthday, he escorts her through the exhibit for the first time, and he also puts her on display as âThe Human Mermaid.â Born with webbed fingers, Coralie, an expert swimmer, spends her days in a tank wearing her mermaid suit. Later as the business starts to fail, her father arranges special showings, during which adolescent Coralie must swim naked for invited male audiences. Coralie longs to leave but in the mean time is comforted by Maureen. Then Coralie meets Eddie Cohen and her life seems to change as she falls in love with him.

The story is told between two tragic fires that occurred in 1911 â The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory and Coney Island's Dreamland fire. Eddie photographs and is haunted by images of the Triangle fire and then he becomes involved in locating a young woman who goes missing after the fire. This eventually leads him to Coralie and her dire circumstances at the museum.

I thought this novel was very engaging and provided a lot of the history and living conditions of early 20th century New York. I would recommend this one and I'll be reading more of Hoffman. I also read another compelling novel about Coney Island several years ago âDreamland by Kevin Baker that I would also highly recommend for anyone wanting to know more about Coney Island and its inhabitants of the early part of the twentieth century.

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