Based on true facts, this dual timeline historical fiction book tells
the fascinating story of infant incubators. Althea's story showed how different the medical field of the 1920's is from today's and her courageous fight for premature babies. Stella's story, later in the 1950's fights for the education of special needs children. Having never heard of Dr Couney or his highly criticized program, this was especially enlightening. This was a book that was hard to put down. The author did a great job moving the story along while blending the two storylines at the conclusion. Highly recommended!

The Light of Luna Park by Addison Armstrong shed light on an interesting piece of history. I was fascinated by the fact that premature babies were really placed in experimental incubators on Coney Island in 1926. Visitors really did pay admission to see them just as they would to see other sideshow attractions. But beyond that, I'm afraid I just didn't love this book as much as I thought I would.

The writing was very good, and the pace of the story was even but not thrilling. My main complaints were that the fictional plot was too contrived and the main characters were not adequately developed. For instance, I couldn't get behind Nurse Althea Anderson's kidnapping of the baby Margaret even though her intentions were noble. I could not connect with Stella's story either, as I felt everything fell into place much too easily.

Many thanks to G. P. Putnam's Sons and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Prepare to be immersed! This book grabs the reader right from its opening pages and doesn't stop. With a marvelously executed dual-timeline, Addison Armstrong tells the story of nurse Althea Anderson and Stella Wright. Through Althea's story the reader experiences the plight of premature babies and the limitations of health care in the mid-1920s. One seemingly insignificant newspaper article about the treatment of premature babies using incubators on Coney Island, forces Althea to question everything she knew and subsequently make a life changing decision. Stella is forced down a path of discovery as she grapples with the loss of her mother. As she and her husband waiver on how their lives should move forward, Stella learns there was more to her mother than she ever knew. With some shrewd investigative work Stella sheds light on long forgotten choices and discovers the truth of her mother's sacrifices for her. Revelations about her mother, herself, and her husband round out a magnificent debut novel.

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley.

In 1926, Nurse Althea Anderson's heart witnesses another premature baby die at Bellevue Hospital. So when she reads an article detailing the amazing survival rates of babies treated in incubators in an exhibit at Luna Park, Coney Island, it feels like the miracle she has been searching for. But the doctors at Bellevue dismiss Althea and this unconventional medicine, forcing her to make a choice between another premature baby's life and the doctors' wishes that will change everything. Twenty-five years later, Stella Wright is falling apart. Her mother has just passed, she quit a job she loves, and her marriage is struggling. Then she discovers a letter that brings into question everything she knew about her mother, and everything she knows about herself.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this fascinating story. I had no idea that incubators began as a Coney Island attraction. However, what the nurses and doctors were doing was nothing short of a miracle for that time. This was so fascinating that I had to Google Dr. Couney and read about him and his invention of incubators. I could not believe that this well written book was the author's first book.

I really wanted to like this, but it's just too maudlin. Told through two timelines - a nurse in 1926, who kidnaps a premature infant to get her assistance from the Coney Island doctor displaying his incubators; and a newlywed teacher in 1950 who has recently lost her mother and quit her job in special education. The premise is intriguing, and I read about 40% of the novel before giving up, both protaganists never developing beyond a "woah is me mentality". Not worth my reading time.

Althea and Stella are both ahead of their time. In 1926, Althea is training to be a nurse and takes her job seriously. HSe has hear abou a doctor on Coney Island who is saving premature babies by putting them in incubators and feeding them with special spoons. He also charges .10 admission for people to see the babies, so many see them as a sidewhow act and do not take his methods seriousy. When Althea helps to deliver a premature baby during her ob rotation, she makes a decision that will affect her life. Do the ends justify the means? In 1950, Vassar-educated Stella is is married to a veteran with PTSD and grieving the death of her mother. She is working as a teacher for students with disabilites at a time when most were institutionalized. The principal does not beilieve that her students can be educated, and she threatens to resign if he does not order supplies for her classroom. Both women fight for children who would have otherwise been left to die or neglected.

I received this from Netgalley.com.

"Nurse Althea Anderson’s heart is near breaking when she witnesses another premature baby die at Bellevue Hospital. "

An okay read, the writing flowed nicely and the story moves at a good pace. As with most split timeline stories I preferred the older one.

3☆

Stella's mother has always been her rock, her anchor in her life. Always present, always there to help, guide and mentor, Stella is devastated by her mother's death from cancer. Living upstate in Poughkeepsie with her war veteran husband, Stella makes the trip back to her mother's Manhattan apartment to clean out her mother's effects. However, Stella discovers that she may not have known her mother as well as she thought she did. Keepsakes in an old box are like clues to her mother's life before Stella came along. As Stella tracks down the clues to her mother's past life, she begins to formulate a theory that perhaps Stella isn't Althea's child at all and in fact, her name may not actually be Stella. If this is true, then where and how did Althea get Stella? And whose family does Stella actually belong?
Author Armstrong weaves a very personal story into a factual framework of the side show "freak" babies housed in the very first incubators located in Coney Island Amusement Park. She shows us the world of the 1920's through the restrictions on women's careers and how "preemie" babies were relegated to death as the medical establishment of the time did not consider them worth the effort of saving.
Alternating chapters tell both Althea and Stella's stories and it is up to the reader to decide if their actions were justified. Highly engaging and informative.

This is a well written story about the depths that good hearted people will go to to fight for what is right.
At times I found the jumping back and forth in time somewhat confusing . Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this historical novel.

*****Coming out August 10, 2021*****

Thanks to PENGUIN GROUP Putnam and Netgalley, I was chosen as an early reviewer.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Addison Armstrong writes a powerful and heartfelt debut novel that explores the themes of motherhood, love, loss and self discovery. This is a dual timeline book that goes back and forth between Althea Anderson in 1926, an OB nurse, struggling in her job with what she is told to do versus what she believes is the morally right thing to do and Stella Wright in 1950’s who is struggling with her marriage and job as a Special Ed teacher due to grieving her mother’s death. Two women working in different eras, but still went through their own hardships that had parallels of making morally right decisions despite being pressured to go against what is requested and expected by their bosses. When Stella is at her lowest point in grieving, she decides to quit her job and clean out her mother’s apartment. When she stumbles upon letters, she takes it upon herself to investigate. Will she find out hidden truths behind the letters? This heartfelt book will have you turning the pages to find out their fates and how these ladies are connected. Such an wonderful story that is full of the unexpected. Be sure to add this to your TBR list. A great book club pick!

Even though this is a novel, it has an important story about a doctor, nurses, men and women who brought over life saving medical advances from Europe that saved thousands of premature babies. Without their work and the work of those who spread the knowledge, an important medical advance would never have become common. I think as a novel, this knowledge and the story is going to get shared more widely than in a non-fiction book.
The novel was well constructed and engaging. It was really two stories; the story of a nurse and a baby that would not have lived without the new technology and practices and the story of a young woman finding her story and strength to help herself and children in need. Two women who fought for better lives for children with special needs. I ready the book in three days and could have actually done it in one, if I did not want to stretch it out a bit. The characters were well written. They and the story touched my heart. I was glad that both sides of the Luna Park story was told - the wonderful work that was done and the freak show aspects that funded the work. It was only by the dint of people who could see beyond the freak show that hospitals and doctors saw the value in what was being done, that medicine moved forward. There is a heart rending and heart warming story in this novel. The duel stories were a very good way to present the history and keep it as a good novel overall. Read it; enjoy it; share it with others.

A student nurse, frustrated that the hospital she works at can do nothing to help save premature babies, learns about the incubators set up at Luna Park on Coney Island. Though some viewed it as a "freak show" the Coney Island incubators saved thousands of babies before hospitals began treating preemies. The nurse takes a dying baby from the hospital to Coney Island and makes up a cover story that will last her the rest of her life. Meanwhile, a young wife named Stella is trying to clean out her mother's house in New York, and winds up finding out that everything she thought knew about her life was a lie, including who her mother was. A beautifully written book which shows the lengths people will go to to protect the people they love.

This is everything I love about historical fiction. A well written novel that is inspired by a real-life person that not only teaches me about a subject I knew little about, but that gets me to research and learn even more about it.

This book definitely deals with some heavy topics and it was a bit much in the beginning, but it was a wonderful and beautiful story. I loved it.

Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

#NetGalley #TheLightofLunaPark

The Light of Luna Park alternates between Althea Anderson’s narrative in the 1920’s and Stella Wright’s in the 1950’s. Althea, a nursing student in obstetrics, is haunted daily by the deaths of premature babies in her hospital wing, and butts heads with stiff-necked attending doctors who refuse to consider the new live-saving incubator treatment. Meanwhile, Stella deals with her own adversary — the school principal — who is firm and cruel in his judgments that her class of special education students isn’t worthy of school resources.

As Althea and Stella make difficult choices and interrogate the lengths they are willing to go to protect children at stake, readers themselves are helpless not to ask themselves: what would you do to save innocents?

Armstrong weaves a story of love that surpasses law, religion and any sacrifice necessary. With lovable characters, engaging storylines and compelling themes, I can’t wait to read Armstrong’s next story!

The dual setting: New York City, 1926. Nurse Althea Anderson witnesses another premature baby die at Bellevue Hospital. "... she reads an article detailing the amazing survival rates of babies treated in incubators in an exhibit at Luna Park, Coney Island, it feels like the miracle she has been searching for." The doctors at Bellevue disagree. She leaves--taking a huge risk by whisking one of the preemies to Luna Park. [Luna Park was real.] Althea lives by deception--caring for Margaret [the baby] and reinventing herself. A mother's love and her sacrifices are at the heart of this story.

Stella Wright, 25-years later. Married to Jack, a veteran suffering from PTSD. [She met him at Vassar; he attended on the GI Bill.] A special education teacher [though not called that] who loves her job. She asks her principal for supplies; he gives her straightjackets for her students who have with various disabilities. She too leaves. That situation, combined with her continued grieving for her recently passed mother sets her into a tailspin--and sets much of the story in motion. Stella, adrift in the mystery which gradually reveals itself to her in a letter she finds in mother's things . Who was her mother?

The parallels. Both women love their careers--which they abandon--not exactly by choice.

I am in the distinct minority of readers as I did not feel the love for this book. Indeed, I found it pedestrian at times. And melodramatic. And somewhat repetitive. And the "romantic parts" between Althea and Charlie--blech.

2.5 but rounding up for this debut novel which was a fast, though disappointing read.

An excellent, gripping and emotional read. I sometimes struggle with alternating time frames, but this novel was wonderfully done. Althea and Stella's stories are compelling and I ended up down a rabbit hole researching things I never knew thanks to this incredible novel!

I'm not sure what to say about this book. I didn't really like it but I'm not sure it that's because of the subject (children) or because of the writing style or the bouncing back in forth in time. Nevertheless, there wasn't anything wrong with the writing so the novel should still appeal to many people. It just didn't ring any bells for me.

An astonishing debut, THE LIGHT OF LUNA PARK is perfect for fans of heartwarming historical fiction in the vein of Susan Meissner. I absolutely loved this novel. There's a lovely wholesome quality to Armstrong's writing that I craved returning to whenever I had to put the book down.

I enjoyed both storylines. Stella's takes a little bit to get going, but it's so rewarding ultimately. Althea's narrative is gripping from the start and never lets up in terms of the (gentle) suspense.

The historical details are rendered beautifully and I was especially struck by the themes woven throughout the beautiful story. I can't wait for this author's next book.

Now this...THIS...THIS IS IT. This is the type of historical fiction I eat up and can't get enough of. It introduced me to a time period I had no idea about (seriously? People paid money to see babies in incubators??) and tugged at my heartstrings.

Addison Armstrong has really knocked it out of the park. I don't know which narrator I loved more - Althea or Stella. Althea truly loved Stella, regardless of her biological status and Stella truly loves the kids she teaches - regardless of their ability.

All around fantastic book and I will be following this author, waiting for more!

You'd never know that this was this author's debut novel.
I say this because it's so well written and she's drawn me in from the beginning. Me loving historical fiction I found this one quite interesting!
I like learning of new places and how things like the subject of this book got started.
I think she's done a wonderful job and it didn't feel rushed at all!
I do hope she writes more since this one was such a delightful story!
My thanks for a copy of this book.
I was NOT required to write a positive review and all opinions are my own.