The Museum of Extraordinary Things

by Alice Hoffman
out
This is the second book I have read by this author, the other was the Dovekeepers.  I enjoyed this book but think the other book was more powerful both in the story line and the writing.

This book is set in New York at the start of the 20th century.  It focuses on two young people, Coralie Sardie and Eddie (Ezeckiel Cohen).

Coralie's father runs a museum of unusual items, living and dead.  He hires misfits for the season, fire eaters, a wolfman, etc.  Coralie is a misfit herself, she has webbed hands. Her father teaches Coralie to swim and to  hold her breath under water.  He gets her to swim in the river to try to develop a myth of a river creature, he dresses her as a mermaid and has her swim in a tank in the museum, using an air tube for breathing. 

Coralie has no mother but is very close to the family's housekeeper, a woman who has scars from an acid burn.  She appreciates the kindness of the woman, it helps her cope with her controlling father who will not even let her leave the house.  The woman has fallen in love with the wolfman, who no longer works for her father.  She is touched by the affection between the two as she has no love in her life.

Eddie and his father escaped from Europe and settled in New York.  They are very traditional Jews.
Eddie's father gets a job as a tailor and Eddie accompanies him to work.  On one day there is an altercation down near the docks and Eddie's father dives/fall into the water.  Eddie thinks his father has tried to commit suicide and he is disgusted at his father "abandoning" him in this way.  His father survives but Eddie leaves his father and hooks up with a shady character who has him follow people and spy on them.  He learns how to be "invisible".  He doesn't really like the work. He meets a photographer and becomes his apprentice.  A job he enjoys much more.  When his mentor dies Eddie continues as a photographer taking pictures of crime scenes.  One of the events he photographs is a horrific fire at a clothing factory where many young people are killed, or jumped from the building because the doors where locked.

One day Coralie is swimming and finds a dead girl on the edge of the river.  The girl's mouth is sewn closed with blue thread.  She tells her father and instead of telling the authorities the father scoops up the body and plans to make the body part of a display in his museum, converting the girl to a mermaid with fish scales.  Coralie is disgusted by this and by the fact that her father is now having her swim nude in the tank to make money for the financially struggling museum.

At the same time Eddie is approached by a friend of his father.  The man knows of Eddie's previous work and asks him to find out what happened to his daughter.  Eddie's sleuthing unearth's the truth, that the dead girl Coralie found is the missing daughter and she was killed because of her pro-union activities.

Eddie finds out that he was mistaken about his father.  His father had not attempted suicide.  He was pushed into the water.  He also finds out that his father has been keeping track on him over the years.  He wants to reconcile with his father but isn't able to, instead he leaves money under his father's door.

Coralie and Eddie meet and it is love at first sight.  Coralie decides to run away but before she can do this her father imprisons her in the basement.  Coralie finds out that her father has lied to her all along.  He had told her mother was french.  In fact Coralie was an orphan left on his doorstep.  The housekeeper showed up seeking work shortly after Coralie arrived, is she Coralie's mother?? Coralie also finds out that it was her father who disfigured the housekeeper.

As the book ends Dreamland, a big amusement park across the street from the museum, and big competition for the museum has caught on fire. The fire is spreading to the neighbouring buildings including the museum.  Eddie and the housekeeper are able to save Coralie.

It was an interesting story and certainly portrayed a detailed picture of life in New York at the turn of the century and how the city was changing and growing.