A hypnotic debut in turn-of-the-century Coney Island, where an abandoned girl collides with a disgruntled ménage of circus freaks
Kitty Hayward and her mother are ready to experience the spectacles of Coney Island's newest attraction, the Dreamland amusement park. But when Kitty's mother vanishes from their hotel, she finds herself penniless, alone, and far from her native England. The last people she expects to help are the cast of characters at Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet, a museum of oddities.
From con men to strongmen, from flea wranglers to lion tamers, Kitty's new friends quickly adopt her and vow to help find the missing Mrs. Hayward. But even these unusual inhabitants may not be a match for the insidious sickness that begins to spread through Coney Island…or the panic that turns Dreamland into a nightmare.
With shades of Water For Elephants and The Museum of Extraordinary Things, Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet sweeps readers into a mesmerizing world where nothing is as it seems, and where "normal" is the exception to the rule.
About the Author
H. P. Wood is the granddaughter of a mad inventor and a sideshow magician. Instead of making things disappear, she makes books of all shapes and sizes. She has written or edited works on an array of topics, including the history of the Internet, the future of human rights, and the total awesomeness of playing with sticks. She lives in Connecticut with a charming and patient husband, a daughter from whom she steals all her best ideas, and more cats than is strictly logical.
Industry Reviews
"Be transported into another place and time in this magical debut novel." - POPSUGAR
"Exciting, fast-paced, and fascinating! " - Publishers Weekly
"A fast-paced tale of a historic amusement park under siege.... Debut author Wood manages a large cast and a complicated story with a light touch and has a knack for capturing a character with a deft phrase." - Kirkus Reviews
"Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet is a book peopled by brilliant, larger-than-life characters that survive on the fringes of a society that despises the unusual or the different. These characters, and the world they inhabit, leap off the pages in glorious splendor, drawing the reader to dance in the light of their flames." - The Examiner
"A death-defying feat of creativity and imagination, Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet is gloriously original, colorful and alive. Wood's magnificent riot of unique turn-of-the-century characters -- fools and sages, snakes and saviors -- charmed me completely. Pick it up and it'll run away with your weekend and your heart." - Greer Macallister, bestselling author of The Magician's Lie
"...a fascinating and enlightening story. A great vacation novel..." - Booklist
"It's a rare novel that manages to combine humor, tragedy, powerful friendships, outcasts, insiders, detached satire, and deeply felt emotion all in one, but HP Wood's Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet manages to pull off the trick-- just don't ask how it's performed! Fascinating and deeply compelling...compulsively readable." - Lauren Willig, New York Times bestselling author of The Other Daughter
"Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet is an enchanting, darkly wondrous adventure. Beautiful and tragic, this stunning debut novel transports the reader to the heart of New York's Coney Island in the 1900s and the sideshow Unusuals who live there. Open Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet and prepare to be dazzled!" - Jennifer Kincheloe, author of The Secret Life of Anna Blanc
"I inhaled Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet in a single sitting. Wood has written a cracking Coney Island roller coaster of an adventure, full of marvelous, colorful, and unapologetically authentic characters. A bright, breathless debut." - Jessica Brockmole, author of Letters from Skye
"Oh, how I adored this marvelous, magnificent, magical book! There aren't many books I'll lose sleep over, but this was one of them. This is a story that won't let you go - stuffed with gloriously quirky characters and brimming over with sumptuous sentences - a startlingly original debut novel." - Menna van Praag, author of The Dress Shop of Dreams and The Witches of Cambridge
"...very entertaining, and will keep you guessing right up until the end." - Historical Novels Review
