In the early 1900's, a premature baby was given virtually no chance of life by doctors and hospitals. Yet a "doctor" in Coney Island, as part of a "freak show," created a place where premature infants could be placed in incubators and put on a specialized feeding routine, increasing the odds of survival tremendously. The admission fees into seeing the baby are what paid for the care of the babies. Interestingly enough, the exhibit was only open during the summer months that Luna Park was open, thereby limiting this chance of life for babies born in the summer months.
The novel has two different storylines in two different timelines. The first story takes place in 1926. It's the story of young Nurse Anderson who risks her professional life to basically kidnap a premature infant who is basically given to die in order to save the baby's life by bringing the baby to a sideshow in Luna Park that she read about in the paper. She'd seen one too many babies not given a chance at life. Once she read about the incubators in Coney Island, she knew that this babies did have a chance. And her aim was to save at least this one.
The second story is Stella's story. This one takes place in 1950. Stella has just quit from her job as untrained special education teacher in Poughkeepsie, NY. She's recently married. Her mother has just died. She's floundering. She decides that rather than use a hired person to go through her mother's apartment in Manhattan that she will do it herself. Discoveries of some items in her mother's box of mementos makes her question everything about her life. Stella goes in search of answers.
The history in both timelines was of interest to me. Who or what should determine if a baby should live or die, or if a disabled child should be provided with an education? I felt a personal connection to both of these aspects of the story.
I'd highly recommend this book.
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