A Strange Romance in Early 20th Century New York

Alice Hoffman’s The Museum of Extraordinary Things tells the story of Coralie, a “mermaid” girl forced to perform in her father’s freak show on Coney Island, and Eddie, who made his living for years by finding people, and has been tasked to find another young girl after a horrible disaster. Coralie and Eddie meet, and things change forever.

“You are the one who taught me that love was never what we expected it to be and that it was all we needed. For that, and for a thousand other things, I send my gratitude.”

Coralie’s father runs The Museum of Extraordinary Things, a freak show that’s been declining in recent years. He has hard control over Coralie, and treats her and his staff horribly. She’s swimming in the Hudson one day when she stumbles a young man that she (of course) falls instantly in love with, despite never meeting him. That young man, Eddie, has been railing against his upbringing for years, and spends most of the novel trying to make peace with his own past.

Hoffman bookends the novel with two real-life fires — the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, which I remember learning about at school, and the Dreamland fire on Coney Island. Both are told with vivid details, which made them fascinating and heartbreaking. Honestly, as sweet as the love story is, I really enjoyed the New York background most of all.