In this month’s book review, reviewer Qionglu Lei writes that she was first “drawn to The Light of Luna Park by the novel’s source of inspiration—its historical model of Luna Park, the amusement park in Coney Island, New York.” The novel, a debut publication from Addison Armstrong, traces two women in New York, separated by twenty-five years, as their stories intersect. “Under the theme of motherhood,” Lei writes, “Althea and Stella’s stories are in conversation with each other.” Read the review below.
As probably many would be, I was drawn to The Light of Luna Park by the novel’s source of inspiration—its historical model of Luna Park, the amusement park in Coney Island, New York. The site witnessed the controversial invention and exhibition of incubators that saved thousands of premature babies in the early 20th century. Considered a “freak show” by the mainstream medical practice, this place was the only institution that saw premature babies as lives worth saving at the time. However ridiculous this might sound to us today, it was the status quo that the majority did not question.
