Kitty and her mother have arrived in Coney Island by steamer from South Africa in 1904. Kitty’s mother is gravely ill and the hotel doctor sends her to his office for medication. When Kitty returns, her mother is gone and both the doctor and the hotel clerk deny ever seeing her before. Alone, with no money and no place to stay, Kitty is taken in by the residents of Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet, a Coney Island museum of oddities and freaks. But what happened to Kitty’s mother and what is the terrible sickness sweeping through the Island? Sharp eyed readers may recognize an old urban legend in this tale. But Wood breathes fresh life into this old tale with the characters from Magruder’s and the spunky Kitty. Tremendous fun

It is 1904, Coney Island, and a terrible illness is spreading. Called at first the Cough, the Plague is fast moving. Coney is under quarantine and those affected are moved out to an isolated pair of islands to demand be disposed of.

It is in this place and time that a group of people become a family and Magruder's is part home, part clubhouse and part sanctuary. We meet "normal" folks, referred to as Dozens (as in a dime a dozen) and Unusuals from Coney Island. Together the unlikely friends and allies fight to save Magruders and themselves.

This is a fabulous book. One of the best I've read. The ensemble of characters and the full development of each is stunning. I felt deeply for poor Rosalind who knows who he is and his love Enzo who struggles to be okay with himself, for Kitty and her loss, for Zeph the center of the group, for Spencer as he learns what is important, for conman Archie who is plagued by one decision, for Nazan thrown for her dreary existence into what she could become and many more. the author doesn't shy for big themes but nothing felt contrived or like I was being lectured to. The characters feel true and, by the end, like family.

Wow. What an incredible read. The cast of characters is very well developed and the writing pulls you into this dark, somewhat dreary world. Everything about this book is addictive and entertaining, it was one of those books I would classify as “unputdownable!”.

Thanks SOURCEBOOKS Landmark and netgalley for this ARC.

Truly remarkable how into this quirky and lovable book I became. Worth the short time it takes to read because there is so much packed into it. Classic

3.5/5 If you like books with a carnival/ circus feel to them, then you should give this one a go. It follows a group of "Unusuals" as they deal with a plague outbreak in Coney Island. I thought the story was inventive, but the cast of characters was so large I was constantly flipping back to previous chapters to remember who was who. I also wanted more character development out of the core characters. I think the subject of the curiosity cabinet alone would have made for a good book, but throwing the plague in the mix made the plot a bit hectic at times.

If you like the spirit of Coney Island that’s the book for you. It’s crazy, mysterious and intriguing at the point you can’t put it down.

What a ride! This book was fantastic. I really expected more magic than there was. It wasn't so much fantasy, as it was about the "unusuals" who lived on Coney Island in 1905. H.P. Wood did a great job showing how the people who considered themselves unusual, had to deal with not fitting in. It was great how they came together and really were a family. Even the ones they didn't like that much, were still offered a place. The outsiders in this story were the "Normals" or "Dozens" as in "a dime a dozen" lol.

In this eerily beautiful scene, there are a few normals who are allowed in, and there is an outbreak of the plague. Will they be able to save themselves before it's too late?

The characters are deep and complicated. Rosalind does a show as a half and half, half male, half female. He is really just an effeminate gay man living in 1905, and he likes what he likes. Going between male and female dress as he desires when he isn't on stage.

Zeph is a black man who lost his legs. Being black is enough of a burden in 1905, but add to that no legs...but he's wickedly intelligent and has found his home at Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet - a dime museum full of Believe it or Not type stuff. Sounds like a fun place.

As far as Zeph knows, it is owned by Dr. Timur. And reclusive and brilliant inventor. He often invents things that even he doesn't know what they do. But he leaves the museum in the care of Zeph and does his thing.

Kitty comes from England, but has lost her family and has no money. She is welcomed with the kind of generosity rarely seen in the "normal" world. They go out of their way to help her, and I think she has found her new home.

I just loved the people in this, and the story was often dark and scary, as a plague can be. Can you imagine if there was an outbreak like this today? Quarantine? Does that even happen anymore?

Just check this one you, you won't be disappointed.

Oh my God. This book is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I could not put it down. I even took the long way home just so I had an excuse to keep reading it. It's dark with a few light moments weaved in between so you are not entirely depressed and at the edge of your seat.

For a debut novel, it is utterly stunning. The time period is very fitting for a plague-ridden carnivalesque-setting and Coney Island is the perfect stage for the story to unfold. The characters are very well-developed and you get to know each one very well. There were times when you had to really break yours bias (which you shouldn't have anyway :P) As I don't want to have any accidental spoilers, you will just have to read to find out why I feel this way. Trust me. You won't regret it!

I really hope to read more by H.P. Wood in the future and highly, highly recommend this book!

I loved this book! Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet is home to several workers in the amusement park on Coney Island. These freak show / carnival attraction stars have become a family and take care of each other. Throw in a stranded British teenager, a few gallant and some not so gallant "normal" people, con men and businessmen, plague and quarantine, and you have the setting for a remarkable novel. By turns humorous, dark and fantastical, you will want to keep reading to find out what happens to these characters. I will definitely be watching for future works by HP Wood - this book was wonderful! Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for allowing me to read this prior to publication!

A sense that outcasts were building their own society particularly appealed to me when reading Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet. For the tourists who flock to Coney Island, circa 1904, Magruder’s is a “dime museum” in a less-fashionable area of the park.

The sideshow performers are subjects of curiosity for ticket-paying tourists, but they are excluded from broader society. In the museum basement, they can gather and be free from the tourists’ stares.

Their society is threatened on two fronts as animals and people quickly succumb to a rapidly spreading disease. And the aide to a senator who also developed the park is anxious to gain favor with his employer. He is determined to tear Magruder’s down.

I found the story to be fast-paced and exciting and I cared about the plight of the characters. I really wanted to know what happened next. I could especially relate to not fitting in among “normal” people, and of wanting to protect the family you build where you can be completely yourself.

An exciting adventure book for all ages, bringing to life the magic of the circus with a unique cast of extraordinary characters. The writer does a great job of transporting us to a lost of work of freak shows, curiosity displays and of course circus acts. The protagonist is well written with a feisty streak and also a great deal of vulnerability. You cannot help but to both sympathise and support such a character.

An Entertaining Coney Island Mystery With a Side of Social Commentary

** Trigger warning for racist/sexist/ableist language and sexual harassment. **

“Everything about the Cabinet is grimy and fusty and strange. Nazan smiles. It’s everything she’d hoped it would be. It’s perfect.”

“Along the street comes the clip-clop of distraction. Spencer recognizes the tinkling bells of Children’s Delight—a portable fourseater carousel pulled along by a fine white horse. The Children’s Delight was such a part of his childhood; he and Charlie used to search for it on every family visit to Coney. What a relief that some things never change. And yet. A young girl with pigtails, no more than ten years old, sits atop the cart. It is packed with corpses.”

2015 saw the publication of so many wonderful carnival- and circus-themed novels that part of (me the bookish part) was sad to see the year end. There was Kristy Logan’s THE GRACEKEEPERS, in which North and her bear cub traverse the sea (which now covers most of the planet) with their circus troupe on the Excalibur. Leslie Parry’s CHURCH OF MARVELS follows Coney Island sideshow performer Odile Church as she travels to Manhattan in search of her sister, who fled The Church of Marvels when it burned to the ground, taking the sisters’ mother – and their livelihood – with them. In THE BOOK OF SPECULATION, Erika Swyler weaves an imaginative tale about a librarian named Simon who comes into possession of an old book – a circus ledger dating back to the 1700s. Only by unraveling its secrets can he lift the curse that’s plagued his family for generations. And then there’s Anna-Marie McLemore’s THE WEIGHT OF FEATHERS, a retelling of Romeo & Juliet featuring two rival families of performers, the Palomas (mermaids) and Corbeaus (tightrope walkers/tree climbers). Last but not least is Rachel Vincent’s MENAGERIE, an “accidentally vegan” tale that features cryptids, hybrids, and shapeshifters, which quickly became an all-time favorite.

While this year doesn’t seem quite as rife with carnies and “freaks,” I was overjoyed to see early copies of MAGRUDER’S CURIOSITY CABINET by H.P. Woods and Juliette Fay’s THE TUMBLING TURNER SISTERS on NetGalley. I’m also eagerly anticipating the release of Stephanie Garber’s CARAVAL in early 2017.

Anyway, the point is that I have a soft spot for stories starring circus performers, and H.P. Wood’s MAGRUDER’S CURIOSITY CABINET is a welcome addition to the genre. Of all the books I mentioned, it shares the most in common with CHURCH OF MARVELS: set in a similar time period (1895), it too features a distraught young woman scouring New York City for a missing loved one in the wake of a personal tragedy.

Set in 1904, MAGRUDER’S CURIOSITY CABINET involves an outbreak of the pneumonic plague, a pack of wayward leopards, a mysteriously vanished Englishwoman, and a corporate and political conspiracy. At the center of it all is Theophilus P. Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet, a dime museum located on the “wrong end” of Coney Island. While the dusty old museum doesn’t see much traffic, the basement bar known as Magruder’s Unusual Tavern serves as a gathering place for Coney Island’s extended family of “freaks” – or Unusuals, as they like to call themselves. (By the same taken, “normal” people are “Dozens” – as in “a dime a.”) When Unusuals and Dozens alike start dropping like flies, Magruder’s becomes the base of operations – and, when the quarantine threatens to rip Coney Island apart, Magruder’s is their last stand.

(The synopsis provided by the publisher does good job of outlining the plot, though I’m surprised that it mentions the plague: for the first third of the book, the weird happenings on Coney Island – hordes of dead rats in the streets, German tourists seizing atop exhibits, a whole herd of dead camels – remains a source of mystery.)

MAGRUDER’S is an exciting mix of mystery, adventure, historical fiction, and social commentary. There’s so much to say on this last point that I’m not quite sure where to start. It’s no surprise that the Unusuals face bigotry: many of them – the “dwarves” of Lilliputia; Bernard the Giant; Count Orloff, the Transparent Man; and Susannah, The Flamingo Girl – were born with disabilities. Others became disabled or disfigured by chance: Zeph lost both legs in a tractor accident (and was subsequently sold to a circus by his mother); Enzo nearly melted half his face off in a fireworks accident; and anarchist Joe lost his left arm making pipe bombs in Chicago.

Still others aren’t disabled, but just plain different. My favorite character is Rosalind, he of “Robert or Roberta?: Half Man, Half Woman, All Freak!” fame. In the parlance of the time, Rosalind is a half-and-half – but he prefers the term “doublesexed.” (In the Author’s Note, Wood says that “While I have never considered the character to be transgender, I’m certain that genderfluid is a term Rosalind would have adored and embraced.”) Sometimes Rosalind likes to wear dresses, while sometimes he prefers trousers. Sometimes he even dons both at once – and not just on stage.

Rosalind’s nontraditional gender presentation is a source of conflict with his boyfriend, Enzo, an Italian immigrant and the island’s resident fireworks Maestro. He eschews public displays of affection, particularly when Rosalind is dressed in a masculine manner, and treats him more like a friend than a lover when they’re not alone. The two have a huge blowup when Rosalind wears a dress and a tux to Bernard’s funeral, calling it “disrespectful.”

Rosalind’s take on gender and sexuality is so wonderfully fluid and progressive, with a live and let live attitude that he applies to himself – and others:

“’My parents named me Edward Butler.’ He pronounces the name like it’s a synonym for vomit. ‘I took the name Rosalind because I like it better. Some days, I wear dresses because I like them; sometimes, I wear trousers because I like those too. Frankly, I don’t know why it all has to be so complicated. Actually, that’s not true. Of course I know why; I’ve just chosen not to care very much. Isn’t our little earth grim enough without denying ourselves the perfect lipstick?’”

Likewise, in Rosalind we get a taste of the many microaggressions (and outright bigotry) that trans and gender-nonconforming people still face today:
“As a matter of biology, I am most tediously male. Lots of people assume my male half is the act—that I’m a woman dressing as a man. I suppose it obliterates their peace of mind to contemplate the alternative. But there’s no denying.”
“Do you wish you were female?”
“My, we get right to the point, don’t we?” He considers the question. “You know, I don’t think anyone ever asked me what I want before. And the answer…is no. No, I don’t.”

Yet many of these characters belong to multiple marginalized groups: Enzo is both scarred and an Italian immigrant who speaks imperfect English; Zeph is missing both legs – and black; Whitey Lovett, fire chief of Lilliputia, is a Jewish “dwarf”; and so on. Wood explicit draws attention to these intersecting identities, both in the text (e.g., Whitey cautions Zeph against joining the anarchist group Black Flag: “Unusuals can’t afford to be anarchists, Zeph. Look at me—I’m a dwarf and a Jew. You’re a Negro and legless. Add ‘anarchist’ and you’ve got the Trifecta of F***ed. Don’t do it.”) and through a question about intersectionality in the Reading Group Guide.

Some characters aren’t Unusuals per se, but are “others” just the same. Most notably, there’s Nazan Celik, a 21-year-old natural-born American who enters Magruder’s as a patron and ends up an adopted “Unusual” – of sorts. Her family is originally from Constantinople (Istanbul); she complains that her parents are pressuring her to marry, even though they came to America to give her a better life. A self-taught scientist, she’s described as “raven-haired and olive-skinned.”

And of course who could forget about P-Ray, an orphan taken in by Zeph and Magruder’s mad scientist, Timur. He is described variously as white and not; when Kitty and Enzo plot their escape from Hoffman Island, the Teufel family objects vociferously to sharing a boat with Kitty’s “monkey”/”darkie”/insert your racial slur here. However, thanks to Nazan’s astuteness, we know that P-Ray (so named for the only word to cross his lips) is really Turkish, like her. (What he’s really saying is “Pire,” or “flea”; he keeps fleas as pets and runs Magruder’s flea circus.) The differing descriptions and categorizations of P-Ray (and Nazan) speak volumes on the social construction of race.

Wood also escapes the trap of relegating the bigotry to a few bad apples, easily plucked from the barrel and dispatched with. While it is pretty satisfying to see the Teufels abandoned on Hoffman Island, or Gibson devoured by newly liberated big cats, Wood paints racism, sexism, and ableism as not just individual shortcomings, but systemic problems – and ones amplified and painted in stark relief by the plague. In fact, the situation is eerily reminiscent of Hurricane Katrina, as the government leaves its most citizens to fend for themselves.

During the planning stages, the rich and powerful are given enough forewarning to get the heck out of Dodge before the quarantine is instituted. Spencer’s father, Senator William Reynolds and owner of Dreamland, retires to his summer cottage, while the working people of Coney Island are abandoned, without adequate food, medical care, or even a way of contacting their loved ones – some of whom are kidnapped to Hoffman Island for a more stringent initial quarantine. Carnivals, museums, taverns, and brothels are raided – and destroyed.

To add insult to injury, it’s the “freaks,” the sex workers, the immigrants, and the working poor who are blamed for the plague. In an attempt to deflect and minimize, those in power call it the “Calcutta Cough” – because it sounds “foreign.” (“Spanish flu,” anyone?) The prevailing theory, however, is that it arrived on a ship coming from Capetown, South Africa – the same ship Kitty (nicknamed “English” for her accent) and her mother were on. When wondering why anyone showing symptoms would have been allowed to board the ship, Nazan relays how, when her father and uncles came over from Turkey, “the authorities practically took their organs out and washed them.” Meanwhile, Kitty and Jemma weren’t asked a single health-related question.

While the social commentary is my favorite part (as per usual), it wouldn’t be quite so readable without a fast-paced plot, well-developed characters, and an entertaining writing style – and MAGRUDER’S has all three. Wood does a great job of fleshing out her characters and their motivations – which go a long way toward explaining seemingly odd or self-defeating behaviors. While I fell in love with many of Magruder’s regulars, Rosalind and Nazan hold a special place in my heart – along with Robonocchio, the Automatic Boy!. A seemingly sentient automaton, Chio steals all the ladies’ hearts with lovingly rendered portraits – and saves the day when he identifies the killer in their midst.

Definitely give MAGRUDER’S a try if you like: a) historical fiction; b) mysteries involving government conspiracies and cover-ups; c) novels with a hint of social justice; or d) stories about carnies and circus performers.

** Full disclosure: I received a free electronic ARC for review through NetGalley. **

I absolutely love this book, it's just so quirky and brilliant.

Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet by H. P. Wood completely immersed me in the world of 1904 Coney Island. The story begins as Kitty Haywood sits on a bench, penniless and alone. Her mother has vanished from the hotel they were staying at, her belongings are gone, and she has no one to turn to for help. She finds herself at Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet, a museum of oddities. I don't want to say more about the plot than the publisher gives away in the book's description, because I don't want to spoil it for you, but if you're even a little bit interested in sideshows and dime museums, pick this one up. The cast of characters is absolutely amazing and I was in tears by the end. The author includes an afterword where she explains which elements of the book are historically accurate and which are fictional. (I'd always wondered if flea circuses were a real thing!)

Special thanks to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for the electronic ARC of this novel.
“Magruder’s Curiousity Cabinet” is almost indescribable. It is most definitely eccentric, creative, smart and intriguing and at the same time it is bizarre, unusual, disturbing and even funny. Kitty Hayward is traveling to New York City with her mother after the death of her beloved brother. When her mother disappears, Kitty finds herself alone and desperate. She is rescued by an old gentleman who brings her to a place beyond her wildest imaginings- Magruder’s. There, Kitty meets all sorts of “curiosities”, from a half-man, half-woman, to giants, midgets and even a man with no legs. Kitty finds a home among these beings (self-proclaimed “Unusuals”) and they agree to help her find her mother. However, at the same time, a deadly illness (called “The Cough”) is plaguing the island and Kitty and her entire clan (and the place they call home) is under serious threat.
“Magruder’s” reminds me, in a way, of Ransom Riggs’ “Miss Peregrine’s” novels (without the associated pictures of course). However, as even the author suggests, “Magruder’s” is not a novel for children. The book features a lot of gruesome illness, death and the downright rottenness of human kind. However, that is not to say that the book is totally and completely morose and devoid of joy. The characters are extremely human (be they “Unusuals” or “Dozens”- the nickname for those born normal) and have diverse personalities all their own. Wood’s writing is most definitely imaginative. This novel is entirely about the characters; each with their own story to tell. Woods reveals the true nature of the human spirit, even in those that society has deemed “inhuman”. It is a novel that surprised me on so many levels and was in fact witty, insightful and thought-provoking. There are characters to love, characters to hate and characters to cheer for, all while exploring the backdrop of 1904 Coney Island. Woods’ novel will take you by complete surprise, in a good way. The creatively developed characters will not soon be forgotten.

Fantastic characters - I loved Kitty, and just kept rooting for her. Excellent writing, as well. What a great read.

Loved this book. This is the first book that I have read with a "freak/sideshow" theme, but after watching Tod Browning's Freaks and the 4th season of American Horror Story, I can say that this book stays true to the idea that they are a close-knit community that sticks up for each other. Also present is the idea that maybe they aren't the ones who are monsters. It includes a cast of heartwarming characters who experience their own fair share of personal problems, and in the end, you might find yourself starting to care for these "unusual" people as if they really existed.

This book deserves the honor of going on my very short "To Re-read" list. Pretty much the only other book on that list is Gone With the Wind.

There is a great line from this novel that says, “The truth, once known, can’t be unknown.” Very similarly, this book, once read, cannot be un-read.

It is a wonderfully charming story, full of the whimsy one would expect from a circus/carnie setting; thought this time we focus on the freakshow more than, say, the more elegant and graceful acts.

The characters are the strongest part of the book, ranging from legless men with dreadlocks, mute Turkish boys, half-burned men, pretty British girls, and even a character who is gender-fluid — sometime I welcome very much. These characters are all bound together by an eccentric inventor named Timur, and I think you’d realized by now this is the sort of ensemble cast that both delight and bring you a great depth of emotion. This is a story of an unconventional family, and each member is interesting in their own right; together, they are marvelous.

And then there’s the plot: a mysterious, rapidly-spreading disease rips through Coney Island, infecting all there in surprisingly disparate ways. It’s disgusting and distressing, as you spend the entire time with this little unconventional family, watching as they try to save all the ones they care about through all the myriad issues that crop up like a demented carnival game. It’s a story with constant movement and enough variety in the action that things never get dull; just as you’re ready to move on, the book does so. Needless to say, it’s well-paced.

It was wonderfully delightful and I’m glad I was able to step away from reality for the briefest moment and enter Magrudedr’s Curiosity Cabinet.

What a delightful surprise! If you've always wanted to travel back in time.. specifically to the days that Coney Island was an attraction that everyone wanted to visit at least once in their life. This book will merrily take you along, skipping and sashaying as you enter an old Curiosity Cabinet filled with magnificent surprises. The original Ripley's Believe it or not museum.

The characters are extremely well defined. You find yourself hoping that all will end well for this cast of misfits and unusuals. Toss in pneumoniac black plague.. and you've got a story that grabs you from the first paragraph. I love that they have a mad scientist that lives in the attic.. that is constantly sending his museum clerk running about finding him whatnots. I also love that the characters are all well read and often relate what is happening to them.. to popular stories of the day.. in 1904!

I do not want to give spoilers. But, I will say this.. the end shocked me. I was not prepared for the ending. But, then again.. are we ever prepared for an ending? :)

Like most readers, I’ve developed a list of very specific genres that are of particular interest to me. Not genres like historical fiction, but genres like historical fiction dealing with religious conflict in Elizabethan England or complicated mysteries with books at their center that also include magical realism. Another of these ultra-specific genres is explorations of class and individual opportunity set on Coney Island near the turn of the 20th Century. The most recent top-notch addition to this genre is H. P. Wood’s Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet, which I’m putting on my shelves next to Alice Hoffman’s The Museum of Extraordinary Things and Leslie Parry’s Church of Marvels (you can find reviews of these two titles on this blog).

In Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet H. P. Wood creates a world that is distressingly real and simultaneously infused with just a touch of magical realism. Wood’s Coney Island is highly stratified: there are the wealthy business owners, the more established performers and venues, and a highly marginalized community of small-time performers and oddities.

Two new arrivals on the island set this novel in motion: one is Kitty Armstrong, from a wealthy English family, whose mother has disappeared during their first day on the island, and the plague. Yes, that plague. Wood uses the San Francisco plague epidemic of 1900-1904 and the epidemic in Honolulu that occurred during the same period as inspiration. The wealthy see that Coney Island becomes quarantined, abandoning the vulnerable to attempt to live out the epidemic with limited resources and almost no health care.

Kitty is befriended by a con man, who leads her to Magruder’s where she becomes part of an eclectic community: the legless African American man who runs Magruder’s, the youngster who won’t speak a word aside from his own unusual name and who has an obsessive fondness for fleas and flea circuses, an eccentric experimental scientist, a robot boy who is also an artist, a character who is half male half female divided neatly down the middle, the heir of a senator who is a major Coney Island business owner—the list goes on and on. Wood does an admirable job of bringing these characters together and gradually building relationships among them that are both affectionate and volatile. This isn’t a cast of gutter angels, rather it’s a group of gutter and high society individuals, most of whom are both a bit angel and a bit devil.

I’d recommend starting Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet on a Friday evening. You’ll need to have Saturday and Sunday free because once you begin reading, you won’t want to put this book down.

A charming, eccentric, creative book with wonderful, quirky characters. A great debut novel for a writer I look forward to reading again.

Quirky and unique story.

How utterly marvelous this book was.
It all begins with a blonde girl sitting on a bench on a beach. Despite the families playing in the sand not far from her, she is as alone as anyone can be. She is picked up by a conman who introduces her to a whole new world – that of Coney Island and its denizens. "You call us Unusuals, freaks, monsters… Did you never think we’d have our own name for you […normal people]? Dozens. As in, dime a.” I think I like that even better than "Muggles".
I'll admit, it took me a few minutes to adapt to following as a main character, as our hero, a young man – Zeph – who lost half of himself in an accident with a tractor, and who now travels on his hands. I also admit that it took a moment to settle in with Rosalind and several others of the Unusuals. But after those few minutes I discovered in him one of my favorite characters of the year. On top of all the laudable attributes – courage and strength and loyalty and sheer indefatigability – he's also funny. “Aw, now. He paid enough to fix the tractor, so…"
If this had just been a tale set amid the Unusuals of Coney Island, it would still have been a special story. But the reason Kitty Hayward – that blonde girl – was all alone on the beach was that her mother was suddenly taken sick, and seems to have, somehow, disappeared from their hotel. (" What did Shakespeare say? How sharper than a serpent’s tooth to have a child lose your corpse?") And as bubonic plague washes over Coney Island like a tsunami (no, it didn't really happen – it's all "what-if?"), Kitty finds a new clan among these folk who make their living off the prurience of Dozens. The story at times becomes brutal – as survivors on "The Walking Dead" discover, the healthy are to be feared at least as much as the diseased, and very often, through fire and water and blood and death, it seems like anyone at all can be lost. And the beauty of the storytelling is that this means I was on the edge of my proverbial seat: every death was hard, because I was wholeheartedly part of the clan as well.
Quotes saved:
People who plunk down for the Hell Gate ride— what do they want? A thrill? A good scare? Perhaps that’s all it is. Or perhaps they fear, deep down, that there’s nothing more to their existence than the fifty or sixty years they’ll spend scrabbling around this benighted planet. Maybe they’ll plunk down their hard-earned cash at Hell Gate just to feel, if only for a few minutes, that there’s more to human experience than that.

“What’s that mean, darling,” Rosalind asks.
“Is, ah, ‘into mouth of the wolf.’ But means more ‘good luck.’ Is like actors say ‘break a leg,’ you know this? And your response is ‘Crepi il lupo.’”
“Crepi il lupo,” Rosalind repeats. “And this means?”
“May the wolf die.”
The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.

This is an offbeat story much like the characters that fill the pages. The freaks, sideshow oddities of Coney Island are faced with the black plaque, that sweeps through killing people quickly and spreading like fire. It focuses on Kitty a rich, British girl whose mother disappears. Kitty finds a rag tag group of friends at Macgruder`s who promise to help her find her. This book made me uncomfortable, because it made me question what I would do in the given situation. It somehow manages to display the best and worst of humanity. It also has an extremely diverse cast of characters, Zeb was my favorite, he has no legs. He is amazing with a heart of gold. It`s a story that will make you think.

Fun fun fun read!!! Thank you, Netgalley...I loved!! It!!

I loved this book! I loved all the different characters and how they totally break stereotypes. Each one had a different backstory and it made the story so much better that we got to know them so well (at least I felt I did). Each character is so unique and they all represent things people don't usually face--or don't want to face. I sort of wish the story was longer so I could get to know them even better, but I feel like, if it were longer, I might have gotten bored.

It's also good to mention the giant themes the author has managed to tackle with one book. I really loved how it all came together, even though sometimes I was a little freaked out or even cried because of certain parts.

Overall, this book is definitely worth a read. I would buy it in an instant if I saw it on the shelf, since I'll probably be wanting to read it again in a few months.

Review will post on June 8, 2016.

Set on Coney Island in 1904, this story follows an unlikely group of friends as the island is thrown into quaratine due to an outbreak of the plague.
Although there is some historical basis for the book, the plague never did hit Coney Island (or the east coast of the US), so for the most part this is a work of fiction about what may have happened if it did.
So, if not exploring historical events what is this book about? There is a quote that I highlighted
"...But here on Coney Island, we learn to take each other as we are"
and for me this is the overriding theme and purpose of the novel. We have such an interesting bunch of characters including a man with no legs, a young boy with a flea circus, a con artist, a politician's son, and English lady, a leopard trainer, a "half and half" (one side male, one side female) and even an automaton. This doesn't even cover all of the characters, who call themselves "unusuals", but gives you a flavour of whom you will meet.
Towards the end of the book there is quite a bit happening, and I think that the sheer volume of characters did the book a disservice as the end felt like it was a rushed attempt to let the reader know what happened to everyone. However, I did really enjoy this novel and felt like I was on Coney Island right along with them.

Coney Island is where this takes place in the heart of time when Coney Island was full of freak shows and carnivals. They were freaks in 1904 but those same people today would be fighting for equality. The cast is varied and some shine thru the story more than others. Kitty the lost heiress looking for her mother, a con-man, P-Ray discriminated against for not being white, a woman trans-gender, a Jewish midget and many more characters. This story is about how it was to be different back when it was not accepted to be out of the main stream “normal” and then when influenza breaks out the inhabitants of Coney Island become the center of the storm. This book was both interesting and repulsive at the same time covering an era when man’s ignorance of people’s differences and the effects of diseases they knew nothing about effected the way they thought and influenced their reactions. I would like to thank the Publisher and Net Galley for the chance to read this ARC.

This book was different, I loved the story line

I gave this four stars because it was told from multiple points of view, which at times was confusing. There were times, due to the multiple P.O.V’s, I felt the story was a little bit all over the place. Those are the only negatives that I have with this book. I loved the friendships that formed throughout the story, especially because of how different all the characters are, they still found a way to become friends. While everyone was different, they all had Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet in common, it was the place where they all came together, and for some became home. Another thing that I enjoyed very much, was the vivid, imaginative, descriptive language H.P. Wood used. For example, on page 26, “Everything about the Cabinet is grimy, and fusty, and strange.” I absolutely loved this description, I was able to put my own pictures in my mind about the Cabinet. Also due to the writing, I was able to fully immerse myself in the time period and setting of the novel. I will definitely be reading more from H.P. Wood in the future.

I liked this book a lot. Unfortunately I don't think my patrons will like it as much as I did.

I haven't read a story as magical and fun as Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet. in a long time. Fantastic story line, wonderful characters and despite the plague that hits Coney island, nearly wiping out half the population of performers, the novel has heart, it's about friendship and accepting others despite the fact they're considered odd or different. This is such a great book and I hope the author will consider writing more about these characters.

First off, the gorgeous vibrant cover definitely caught my attention...and once I began reading I was equally dazzled by the prose and plot! Magic, whimsy, historical fiction, strangeness and beauty all live inside these wonderful pages. A unique cast of "Unusuals" act as family as each member strives to fulfill a need in the ever distinctive and original Coney Island. A mysterious plague is sweeping through Coney Island and soon the "misfits" and "ordinary" folks find themselves quarantined. Kitty having just arrived in New York finds herself lost and alone, frantic to locate her missing mother. The group from Magruder 's understand the fear of being alone and adrift and pledge to help Kitty in her quest. Multiple characters and relevant themes really solidify this offbeat read. Thoroughly enjoyable. Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for gifting me with an ARC. In exchange for the ARC I've offered my unbiased review.

I had high hopes for Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet and it did not disappoint, this book definitely goes on my top ten list for the year.

The setting is turn of the century Coney Island, with all the sights and sounds that it has to offer. One of the places that it has to offer is Theopilus P. Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet. The Cabinet is filled with all sorts of intriguing and mysterious things and people, the only problem is that it’s on the wrong end of Coney Island. Not many people venture down that far, which suits Zeph, a black man with no legs, who sort of manages the shop. He is more than happy just socializing with the people of Magruder’s, or the “Unusuals” as they call themselves. The are unusual and not to be confused with the “Dozens” - or the dime-a-dozen regular people.

Kitty Hayward and her mother have arrived at Coney Island expecting to see all the sites. But when Kitty’s mother becomes ill and vanishes from their hotel, Kitty is kicked out on to the streets. Through a series of events, she ends up at Magruder’s.

When people continue to become ill, the Unusuals find themselves struggling to protect their livelihood and the place that they call home.

This is such a wonderful book. It is about friendship and seeing people for who they are, not what they look like. It is filled with humor, sadness, and charm.

I loved this book from beginning to end!

I received an ARC copy.

https://tamaramorning.com/2016/06/11/magruders-curiosity-cabinet-by-h-p-wood/

Magruders Curiosity Cabinet

I love trying out different types of novel and authors so I ventured out to read Magruders Curiosity Cabinet. This is certainly well written but it wasn't for me at this time - I tried several times to read and was unable to continue - a bit too dark and depressing for me at the moment. I will revisit at another time.

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Sourcebooks Landmark for an ebook copy to read and provide an honest review.

Welcome to the Unusuals! They are a tight knit bunch of individuals with heart. I was attracted to this novel because of the circus theme and I loved the cover but inside I found much more. Individuals came to Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet, a dime museum, for it was an attraction that provided rare and odd marvels. The individuals, who ran and worked inside this show, were also a unique crowd. I was impressed with all of them and I really enjoyed this novel tremendously. There was Zeph who worked the front counter, who I visualize like Bluto only without the legs and being African American. I liked him for I thought he was talented and bright. There was Timur, the man in the attic, working away. I thought it was funny how clever and mysterious he was, hiding out up in the attic making clever inventions. P-Ray, he was skillful and inventive. His fleas, l loved his Race-to Death competition, complete with magnifying glasses. How he did that, amazed me and made me smile. I loved it! Chio, I wasn’t sure about him at first, I thought it was gimmick until later in the book and then, I believed. How? I don’t know, magic? But, I believed. There were a few things that he did that seemed to make me shake my head, and know that there is no other way but I wonder, is he sad? Does he feel? I can’t forget Rosalind, I love this person. What a great addition to this novel. Everything about this person makes me jump up for joy.

Kitty brings everything together in this novel as she finds herself roaming the streets of NY alone and wanders into the bar at Magruder’s. Her mother was supposedly back at their hotel room sick but when Kitty returns to the hotel, the staff has no recognition of knowing Kitty nor her mother. Kitty was supposed to be finding medicine. Kitty’s mother is gone and Kitty must find her. The Unusuals step in to help after listening to her story. Kitty’s mother has this sickness that has hit NY and is labeled the Calcutta Cough. Who will catch this illness and how can they find Kitty’s sick mother? As they say, “the show must go on” and for the Unusuals, they try to entertain the public with their talents as this sickness surrounds the community but for long can this last? I loved how this story is continuous; there is never a dull moment, as something is always occurring. There are highs and their are moments where the story continues but towards the end, the story picks up speed and time waits for no one.

I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley and SourceBooks Landmark in exchange for an honest opinion.

Highly recommend! Fabulous read.

Some Unusuals, Dozens, and a Plague It's Coney Island 1904 and Kitty's mother has disappeared from their hotel while Kitty went to fetch medicine for her. Kitty is alone, penniless, and has no place to stay until conman Archie introduces her to the other Unusuals at Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet. And so we get to meet Zeph who has no legs and pretty much runs Magruder's, P-Ray the boy who tends to the flea circus, Rosalind - half man/half woman act, and Timur a brilliant scientist who lives upstairs at the Cabinet to name a few.

The Unusuals agree to help Kitty even though she is one of the Dozens - so called normal people. A sickness is spreading across the island. It's definitely worse than the flu. It's killing people seemingly randomly and without mercy. The end result is a quarantine of Coney Island cutting them off from the rest of New York. What will become of them all?

The characters are well developed and interesting to read about. They all are confronted with the plague and handle it in different ways. Some rise to be better, while others sink lower. My favorites are Kitty, Nazan, and Zeph. Kitty and Nazan were two of the Dozens. Zeph is an Unusual . It's interesting to watch how some of the Dozens become used to the Unusuals and start to see past their appearances and behaviors. I very much enjoyed the story and wished for a better outcome for several of the characters. It definitely has its dark moments.

This is not a story for children. It is very much an adult story and an excellent one at that. It deals with adult themes such as how people behave when they are cut off from the general populace with disease running rampant, racism, and differences in class.

I gave this book 4 stars based on the characterization, the plot, and pace. Even with the dark moments, it is a good read. There is more information about the book and its inspiration on the author's website.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This review also appears in part on Amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/review/R33DYJDEA7UWI0/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B01AO2079W

And Goodreads.com https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1667416512

A rich and satisfying book about a young British teenager at the turn of the century who is taken in by some of the more ... unusual ... Coney Island inhabitants, who range from anarchists through performers who are popular for their acts, or for their ... unusual qualities. By the end of the book, you can taste and smell and feel the place, which is not always nice, but is always fascinating and very, very real.

A plus: H P Wood has a splendid website associated with this novel. You can play a gramophone to hear the music, and page through a picture gallery. Great fun!

Thank you, NetGalley, for an ARC of this wonderful book.

The rating I decided to give to this book is about 3.75, and I really enjoyed the story and it was a very quick read once I had started it. I definitely recommend it!

Magruder's Curiousity Cabinet is a book following the life on Coney Island during the beginning of the 20th century. Coney Island is occupied by people who are labelled "freaks" and "unusuals" by the society and struggle to make a small living out of performing for the show-hungry crowd.
Among the main characters my favorite by far is Rosamund, who performs in a show acting as a half-man, half-woman; Kitty who is a young English girl, separated from her family by very unfortunate circumstances, who comes to find unexpected friendships in Magruders, and Zeph who is a very sassy black man who acts as the keeper/tourguide of the Curiosity Cabinet. And, of course, my favorite is Chio the automaton.

I enjoyed Kitty's character development SO VERY MUCH. She was a strong character, someone who learned to be independent, and take charge, and make things happen. The whole story didn't shy away from being gruesome sometimes, it was also brutally honest and realistic by managing to show the good and the bad sides of humanity at the same time. This is not a typical story by any means, it is not a textbook ending, and the characters have to deal with the idea that life is unexpected, and final, and also beautiful.

I would have given it a full 4 stars (which I did, in Goodreads terms) however I had to slightly lower the rating because though the story was compelling, I felt that towards the finale it was moving at a very high pace and it didn't feel like everything that happened had properly sunk in with the characters. The reactions to certain events were less emotional and weighty than I had expected, and that took away from the impact. Overall, it's a wonderful book for people that like reading about outcasts and a group of people that don't give up and manage to find good things even in the worst situations.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC of this book. Wow. Fascinating book. It is not as weird as "Geek Love" and not as fantastical as "The Night Circus" and it goes strongly in a direction I did not expect after reading the promo for the book. Nonetheless, it is an absorbing read that pokes one's sensitivities and causes one to think about many social issues. It strongly looks at the treatment of the Unusuals and anyone different and/or poor in NY in the early 1900s. The issues raised turn out to be really relevant in today's US.

The characters are well drawn and interesting with several despicable ones that are easy to hate next to the ones that are easy to love. There are many of them and the book rather scrambles at the end to tie everything together and let us know how each one fared. The good parts at the end are contrived but that's okay.
Good things needed to happen after all the death and destruction

Kitty Hayward is sitting on a bench looking at the water wondering what has happened to her very ill mother. She has disappeared. Kitty has no money, been kick out of the hotel and knows no one. Kitty and her mother are from England andwere going to Coney Island's latest attraction Dreamland. instead. Archie approaches kitty to Macgruder's curiousity cabinet tavern open to the Unusuals to get a meal and have a safe place to sleep. Kitty meets the Unusuals. The Unusuals are people who are unusually shaped and skilled. "Dozens" are the (normal) people who pay to see the Unusuals. Zeph, a man with no legs, Rosalind, half man and half woman, and of course con man Archie. The Unusuals decide to solve the mystery of Kitty's mother disappearance. Meanwhile the rats on Coney Island are dead and people are getting sick.

The author writes a novel with a large cast of characters. There are several plots within the story. Somehow the author writes a complicated story with a touch of humor. It is an excellent novel to read and enjoy.

As a kid growing up in the 1970’s, I remember our state fair sideshows that included such things as a tattooed lady, a 600 pound man, the drooling, drug-addicted veteran with a python wrapped around his neck, and the boy with lobster claw hands. Needless to say, there was an absence of political correctness and these “freak shows” took more of my money than I would ever care to admit.

In Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet, we are allowed behind the scene into the lives of similar performers who refer to themselves not as freaks but as “Unusuals,” as opposed to the “Dozens”--the “normal” people who are “a dime a dozen.” The setting is Dreamland Amusement Park on Coney Island in 1904 and the Unusuals are making money hand over fist for the owners. Within Dreamland lies Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet, home to shrunken heads and a flea circus, but also the place where some of the Unusuals come at the end of the day to relax and to have Zeph, the black, dreadlocked curator of the museum, pour them a special concoction whose secret ingredient is tomalley. (Don’t know what it is? It’s just another reason to read this book!!!)

You will fall in love with the Unusuals: Zeph, P-Ray, Nazan, Enzo, and the lovable and genderfluid Rosalind, as well as Kitty, the young British girl whose mother has disappeared from a hotel after falling sick with bubonic plague upon arrival in New York. This ragtag group of friends proves that family isn’t just defined by blood relations. As the plague threatens the Unusuals’ livelihoods, they will either be destroyed or will be brought closer than ever before.

I can’t say enough about this book but you really must read it for yourself! The character development was spot-on, the plot was brilliant, and the ending will have you on the edge of your seat! I hope that Ms Wood can find a way to reunite this delightful group for a second helping!

Thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, H.P. Wood, and Sourcebooks Landmark for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

In "Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet", a dangerous and deadly plague sweeps through Coney Island, felling "Dozens (Regular Folk)" and "Unusuals (Carnie Folk)" alike. An unlikely alliance forms between Zeph, an Unusual who runs Magruder's, and Spencer, the oldest son of a Coney Island magnate. Along with a cast of characters both fantastical and relatable, H.P. Wood has created a microcosm of the world at large. In this novel she explores gender fluidity, discrimination (both gender and appearance), and the common human condition known as empathy.

I found the writing to be rich and enveloping, and the setting realistic and fascinating, but the true stars of this book are the characters. They are so well thought out, so beautifully defined and embraced, that the reader cannot help but hope for their survival, and champion them from the first page to the last.

Set on Coney Island in 1904, this is a story about an unlikely group of friends who are thrown into chaos when there is an outbreak of plague.

When Kitty Hayward’s mother disappears Kitty is sure the staff of the hotel they were staying at knows more than they’re letting on. They must do, otherwise they wouldn’t denying knowing Kitty in the first place. With no place to stay, Kitty finds herself lost and alone in an unfamiliar country.Enter Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet and the Unusuals, who take Kitty in and offer to help find her mother.

I struggled to connect to any of the characters. At first, I thought this may have been the intention of the author but the more I read the less sure about this I became. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t dislike them I simply didn’t care what happened to most of them and caring about the gang at Magruder’s is kind of central to the plot.

If fiction is anything like an effective con game, then it must deliver to readers both what they desire and fear. This theory on swindles is one put forth by author H.P. Wood, who uses it to great effect in the novel Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet. The book takes place in the Coney Island of 1904, where the "People's Playground" is a mixture of amusement rides, shocking sideshows, and a social order that is more accepting of behavior outside the bounds of that era's polite society. In this setting, the author introduces a nascent but virulent plague that threatens to tear all of New York apart if it is allowed to spread past the creek that separates Coney Island from the recently unified greater New York City.

Wood's novel is very much like a boardwalk sideshow: filled with shocking characters, high drama, and horrors that both revolt and enthrall. Step right up and be amazed if you dare. The wonders inside the pages of Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet may not leave you a true believer, but you won't walk away feeling cheated for taking the ride.

[Reviewer received a complimentary digital galley copy of this book for review purposes. This did not influence the above review in a positive or negative way.]

This is just the kind of strange book I needed! At the start, I thought it was going to be some sci-fi story, which isn’t usually my cup of tea, but I loved this book. It’s the tale of Kitty Hayward from England, who ends up on a park bench in Coney Island with no money, friends or family. She is befriended by a con man, who introduces her to the world of the Unusuals, where she finds her new family amidst the carnival and freak show actors and players. She is taken on a zany, adventurous, magical ride with never a dull moment.

The storyline was good, but this is a book you read mostly for the characters as they are so richly presented.

This was great fun, and I cannot wait for the movie!

This book was amazing. It had an excellent plot that I could tell was deeply researched and thought out, but the real gems of this story were in the characters whom I loved very much. I will definitely be reading other novels by this talented author.

What a surprise! I honestly didn't know if I would like this book when I first started reading it. It felt like a rather unusual read (pun intended), but I was curious enough to want to know what would happen next.

But soon, despite my initial skepticism, I found myself engrossed in it. I wanted to know what was going to happen to our characters. There is not much of a plot, I will grant you this. There's no straight line telling you where the story line is going, so you never know what to expect. The story is slow-paced, yes, but that leaves a lot of place to character development.

I was a bit taken aback with our characters at first. They all felt so different from what I normally read, so it was a bit hard for me to relate to them. But one of the things I ended up loving most about this book is the characters! Even the ones I found annoying at the beginning found their way to my heart. I had my favorites (Rosalind and Spencer), but I ended up loving them all. The author found a way to incorporate a diversity of characters without it feeling forced.

I cannot write a proper review of this book without mentioning the setting. Everything is so well-described, I could actually picture myself in Coney Island in 1904! There's a certain atmosphere coming out from the book that highly increases the reader's reading experience. The vocabulary is rich and colorful, but the book is still easy to read. The writing flows naturally.

I didn't know what to expect when I picked up this book and I have to say that it will be difficult to explain what it was about in only a few lines. It follows multiple characters who cross path on Coney Island at the beginning of the 20th century, mostly within the 'freak scene' and then the plague hits. This is simplistic and probably a bit unappealing but this book was a revelation to me. I thought it was very well written and well constructed - I never knew where it was going, which is rare in this day and age. The plot sustained following multiple characters throughout and while it's a bit confusing at first, I got so attached to all of them by the end of the book. I highly recommend this read!

Coney Island is one of those things that always catches my interest. Mr Magruder's museum is filled with an interesting group of people. Zeph a black man missing his legs. Little P-ray the flea trainer. Timur the nutty professor and Rosalind the pretty man Soon other people are added. Kitty, an English lady who is lost and Nazan a lady from town. Spencer the heir of the senator and owner of Dreamland amusement park.
These people lives get connected when a terrible disease breaks out on the island. The situations in which they meet and their reactions to one another are often hilarious despite the sad sides of the story. It is easy to imagine the group of people in the museum or the tavern sitting around discussing solutions. When not mentioned it is easy to forget that most characters are not your regular person. The only thing that did disturb me was P-ray. He can speak as he did with Nazan in his mother tongue and you would expect a young child living with Zeph for 2 years already to pick up English words at some point.

Sometimes I read so much nonfiction, I feel like I need to come up for air. That’s when I look for a good piece of fiction. H.P. Wood’s first novel was an absolute delight. He did such a good job of showing his readers facts about the characters and the place rather than telling them. Early on, rather than tell us that one of the characters, Joe, is missing an arm, the author shows us.

"The left sleeve of his white shirt, where his arm used to be, is folded up and pinned at the shoulder. The pin has a tiny black flag on it." Telling. The story takes place on Coney Island at the turn of the century. The readers are introduced to the ”Unusuals” who work on Coney Island. Also to Kitty, who had been traveling with her family from England. A number of other characters round out the tale. Each one is affected by the sudden onslaught of a plague. Suddenly, folks who want off of Coney Island desperately find themselves stuck there; while others who want to get back to Coney Island aren’t sure how to make that happen. A well-told story and this is one I’d recommend you take with you on vacation.

Great book ,really liked the characters. Story line kept you interested. I recommend this book.

Fun and magical read that had me spellbound from page one. Loved it!!

Read my original review on my blog -> <a href="https://cover2covermom.wordpress.com/2016/08/01/book-review-magruders-curiosity-cabinet-by-h-p-wood/">Cover2CoverMom Book Review: Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet by H.P. Wood</a>

Set in Coney Island (New York) in 1904, Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet has elements of historical fiction, science fiction/fantasy, and mystery all rolled into one. This book is definitely not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but I found it to be delightfully peculiar.

My Thoughts:
I knew when I saw that cover of Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet, that I had to read it. I don’t know about you, but I am a big time sucker for any book that involves a circus. There is just something so magical and alluring about a circus… Confession: I didn’t even read the synopsis prior to requesting a review copy of this book. I have no shame.

When the book arrived (and I finally read the synopsis) I realized that this book was not about a traveling circus, but rather about an amusement park located in Coney Island. This really intrigued me, especially since it is set in 1904. I was not disappointed…

Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet takes us on a wild ride into the lives of the “Unusuals.” What are Unusuals you may wonder? The Unusuals are the people of Coney Island who have some type of “oddity’ about them. The characters in this book are what make this book so compelling. Let me introduce you to a few…
◾Zeph, curator of Maguder’s Curiosity Cabinet, is a dread-locked man of color that lost his legs in a tractor accident. Zeph doesn’t let being a double amputee slow him down though, he just has to do things a little differently. Zeph is really the glue that holds everyone together.
◾Timur, the boss, speaks with a thick accent from his home country of Uzbekistan. Timur is your average mad scientist that lives and works upstairs. Just don’t piss him off or you will find yourself staring down the barrel of a gun.
◾P-Roy, the mute orphan boy that hails from Turkey. P-Roy likes to collect pets….pets that happen to be fleas.
◾Archie, the neighborhood con-artist who everyone loves to hate.
◾Enzo, the local Italian with a face covered in scars.
◾Whitey, the Jewish dwarf and fire chief.
◾Rosalind, the “half man, half woman,” who was born a man, but doesn’t want to label himself (author refers to him with male pronouns throughout the book) as a man or a woman.

In addition to the Unusuals, we also have a few “Normals” thrown in as well…
◾Kitty, the proper British lady who will stop at nothing to find her mother.
◾Spencer, the privileged young man who comes from high society.
◾ Nazan, the highly educated Turkish woman who refuses to comply to her parents wishes to marry.

The motley crew of characters in this book are probably the most diverse groups of characters that I have ever encountered. There were characters of various colors, religions, sexual orientations, social classes, and disabilities. Even though they are different from one another, they share a bond over the fact that they all do not fit into the mold of societal norms. They not only are friends and co-workers, they were a family.

The character that stood out most, in my opinion, was Rosalind of course. This was the first time I had ever encountered a character who was gender fluid (per the author in the author’s notes). I thought Wood did a wonderful job with Rosalind’s character.

"Rosalind grins. ‘As a matter of biology, I am most tediously male. Lots of people assume my male half is the act–that I’m a woman dressing as a man. I suppose it obliterates their peace of mind to contemplate the alternative. But there’s no denying.’ ‘Do you wish you were female?’ He considers the question. ‘You know, I don’t think anyone ever asked me what I want before. And the answer….is no. No, I don’t. Which is not to say I’m particularly attached to being male. My parents named me Edward Butler.’ He pronounces the name like its a synonym for vomit. ‘I took the name Rosalind because I like it better. Some days, I wear dresses because I like them; sometimes I wear trousers because I like those too. Frankly, I don’t know why it all has to be so complicated. Actually, that’s not true. Of course I know why; I’ve just chosen not to care very much. Isn’t our little earth grim enough without denying ourselves the perfect lipstick? It’s not so much that I wish to be female–what I wish is that they’d stop insisting I choose.’"

This, for me, was one of the most powerful parts of dialogue included in this book. I can’t speak for the accuracy of the depiction of someone who identifies as gender fluid, but it really made me think about how much society pressures us to identify as either a male or female, and how it is so hard for society to accept those who identify with both.

The plot of Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet centers around a deadly plague that has hit Coney Island and the pandemonium that ensues. I found the plot to be both engaging and quick paced. When I read the synopsis, I really wasn’t sure how it was going to work, but it just does. There are a few graphic scenes in this book, for example a depiction of a Tibetan Sky Burial… which apparently is a real thing. If you are squeamish, don’t look into it…. I also adored that this book tackles such hard topics such as racism, intolerance, and classism. I must admit, I wasn’t expecting this book to go into these subject matters, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet is not without its shortcomings. As far as the plot goes, this is one of those books that has many subplots along side of the main plotline. There was a lot going on, almost too much at times, especially towards the end. It felt like a whirlwind of one bad thing after another. I think if the plot had been “thinned out” a little, it would have flowed a little better and not felt so chaotic. Furthermore, I thought it was a little odd that no one the Magruder’s crew seemed particularly fearful of becoming ill, even going as far as NOT taking standard precautions to protect themselves…like gloves, covering their mouths, not coming into contact with an effected person, etc. etc. I think it would have been a little more realistic if these fears and precautions had been included.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Like previously stated, this book is not going to be for everyone… To be completely honest, this book is very strange. If you aren’t one for peculiarities and quirkiness, this probably isn’t going to be the book for you.


Noteworthy Quotes:

“Not one of us knows what we can do, until one fine day, we stand up and do it.”

“…here on Coney Island, we learn to take each other as we are.”

“Good. Unusuals can’t afford to be anarchists, Zeph. Look at me – I’m a dwarf and a Jew. You’re a Negro and legless. Add ‘anarchist’ and you’ve got the Trifecta of F***ed. Don’t do it.”

“Sad fact is, it doesn’t take much to amuse most people. But this is what you need to understand: any good confidence game is built on two pillars – what people want and what they fear.”

“Look at me.” Rosalind speaks very quietly. “Look at the way I choose to live. Ask yourself just how tough a person has to be to live like this.”

“Yes, here. Anywhere. Everywhere.”

“Just a typical few days at Magruder’s,” Rosaline says. “Plague, death, imminent doom.”
“Excellent.” Zeph grins.

“They are practical, and practical is beautiful.”

My Rating: 4/5 stars
*Thanks to NetGalley, The Reading Room, and H.P. Wood for providing me copies of this book in exchange for an honest review

I really didn’t know what to expect when I requested and received this book from Netgally. I knew from the blurb that it would most likely have to do with the black plague (which it did), and “carnies” (which is also did), but I wasn’t sure what the overall feel would be.

We start the story with a Miss Kitty Hayward sitting alone on a bench in front of the sea, just outside of Coney Island. Her and her mother checked into a hotel, and because her mother was ill, the staff suggested some medicine Kitty could obtain to help. When Kitty returns to the hotel, they all claim to have never seen her or her mother before. Kitty is stranded with no money, no food, and no home. Her and her mother had just barely arrived via steamer from South Africa, where they went to pick up the body of her brother who died in war.

What follows is Kitty’s introduction to Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet. A “little shop of horrors” of a kind. We’re talking the old school carnival productions of fake half human/half fish skeletons, shrunken heads, flea circuses, and all sorts of curiosities floating in petrified yellow liquid. For only a few cents you can wonder the cabinet and marvel at the curiosities.

Magruder’s is also the safe haven to the “Unusuals”. The freaks and carnies of Coney Island. Kitty gradually becomes ingratiated into this crazy world and finds friends and a new home. All while looking for her mother and trying to figure out what is happening to the people on Coney Island. Everyone is getting sick, mad with fever, and dying. Unfortunately, this isn’t the only “sickness” going on, as all the well to doers blame and attack the Unusuals insisting that they are dirty and disgusting and the reason the plague has been brought down. Discrimination, ignorance, and judgement abound in this book as we have cross-dressers, a legless black man who rides around in a motorized wheel chair, invented by the curious and oft thought crazy Doc Timur, the owner of Magruder’s. (I only mention his race as this book takes place in 1904, so the racial discrimination was a heck of a big deal at that time so it gives some more background on why someone would be judged so harshly just for not having any legs). There are good guys and bad guys and all matter of the in between.

I don’t feel like I can really say more on this except to insist that you read it. It is beautiful, magical, surreal, and heart-breaking. A must read, in my own opinion.