Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet: A Novel

by H. P. Wood

"After Kitty Armstrong's mother vanishes from their Coney Island hotel in 1904, Kitty finds herself alone, hungry, penniless, and far away from her native England. The last people she'd expect to help her are the cast of characters at Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet, a museum of oddities that is home to a handful of freaks. But even the unusual inhabitants of Magruder's may not be a match for the insidious sickness that is plaguing Coney Island ..."--

• ISBN10: 1492631485
• ISBN13: 9781492631484
• Publish Date: 7 June 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 29 June 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Sourcebooks, Inc
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[Terri M. LeBlanc]

Cover lust. The two words that sum up why I requested this book via Netgalley. It’s bright. It’s beautiful. I love it.

Historical fiction set in NYC in the early part of the 20th century. The phrase that sums up what drew me into the story once I started reading it.

Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet was the perfect companion during my crazy airline travel adventures last month. I felt a bit like Kitty during my travels—adrift among a curious cast of characters all with their own struggles, but willing to take the time to commiserate with me and help me get home.

With a curious cast of characters, none more important than another, H.P. Wood is able to capture the essence of Coney Island near the start of the 20th Century, the struggles of the Unusuals and a few key Dozens (the “normal” people) and produce a delightful story of what it means to be human and how one can craft their own meaning of family.

My favorite character by far in the story was Rosalind. Rosalind performs on Coney Island as a half man/half woman. Wood does give us a peek into the performance and the shock it brings to the Dozens who attend the show. I was mesmerized by Rosalind’s acceptance of self and how the other characters, both the Unusuals and the key Dozens at the center of the story, accept Rosalind just as he is. Rosalind’s acceptance by the other characters was refreshing. There were no long drawn out explanations about his gender and his life choices, it just was.

Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet is a character study. There’s no great mystery or love story. It’s is truly about the people that inhabit Coney Island and how they are thrown together to save each other. It’s strictly about how difficult times shape us as human beings and how those difficult moments in life can bring out the best in some of us and the worst. It was a different kind of historical fiction novel from that standpoint for me. The characters drove the story and I was delighted to go on this journey of self-discovery with them. It was an adventure I won’t soon forget and one that I wouldn’t mind going on again.


This review was originally posted on Second Run Reviews