4.5 out of 5 stars

What a lovely debut novel from Addison Armstrong. It started off a little slow for me but then it hooked me and I couldn’t put it down.

Stella Wright is mourning the loss of her mother, struggling to educate children’s whose disabilities are deemed undesirable by society and trying to figure out how to handle a WWII veteran husband suffering from PTSD. After a fight with her husband, she flees to New York City to begin clearing out her mother’s empty apartment. What she finds turns her world upside down and she sets out on an adventure of not only self discovery but of her mother too.

Althea Anderson is studying to be a nurse at Bellevue. She’s currently in her obstetrics rotation and heart breakingly has to watch premature babies die before they even get a chance to live. When she discovers that a doctor has set up a ward at Luna Park with incubators for such babies, she tries to convince the doctor she is working with to send the infants there but he refuses. So...she takes matters into her own hands and “kidnaps” a baby in hopes of saving her. Her love for this child dictates every decision she makes going forward.

Being a historical fiction novel, I did turn to google a few times to learn a bit more about Luna Park and Dr Couney who is credited for saving thousands of children’s lives. It’s a fascinating moment in history and when a historical fiction novel encourages me to seek out more information, I consider that a major win. So I have to thank NetGalley & Addison Armstrong for allowing me to read this in advance. It was a great way to kick off my 2021 reading challenge!

THE LIGHT OF LUNA PARK
BY ADDISON ARMSTRONG

This was a delightfully warm debut novel with the big heartening love and sacrifices above all else a mother has for her child. A love so strong that it puts that child first above all other loves and passions. It is 1926 at Bellevue hospital where Althea is a nurse in training that wants nothing more than to work as a nurse helping to deliver babies. After witnessing one baby die because it was born too prematurely when she witnesses it the second time she does something so daring that if found out she could risk everything.

Stella in the 1950's feels strongly that special needs children should not be denied an education. Her and her students are relegated a basement room and Stella has put in a list of inventory to the school principal to be delivered on a Tuesday. When Stella receives the inventory for her students it's shocking and cruel what she discovers in the boxes ordered by the principal.

At Coney Island in the Lunar Park exhibit Dr. Couney has infants in incubators for exhibit. Stella mentions to the Doctor the incubators during a birth of a baby girl born early who weighs only 2 1/2 pounds and the doctor scoffs at the idea.

I wanted to see if the incubator's at Luna Park were really in existence there at Coney Island before they were in United States hospitals and indeed it seems they were as crazy as it seems in the 1920's.
Dr. Couney really was trained in obstetrics and neonatal care born in the 1800's. Here is an article that I found legitimizing his part in the historical aspect of this wonderful debut novel :
https://columbiasurgery.org/news/2015...

The convergence of Althea and Stella's story emerge when she quits her job teaching her special needs children and goes home to her mother's apartment in New York City. She has gone back to pack up some of her mother's things and starts with a treasure chest of memories that was special to her mother. I loved how strong the mother and daughter's love was. That element really made this book sparkle for me. I quickly devoured this in an afternoon. It was an unexpected surprise how much I loved this. I really also loved Stella's relationship with her husband also. I would have liked to learn more about the incubators but that wasn't the arc of the story so I understand. The arc was learning all that Althea gave up for the love of her daughter.

Publication Date: August 10, 2021

Thank you to Net Galley, Addison Armstrong and Penguin Group Putnam-G.P. Putnam's for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

##TheLightofLunaPark #AddisonArmstrong #PenguinGroupPutnamGPPutnams #NetGalley

Beginning in New York in the 1920's, a young nurse working in Labor and Delivery make a life changing choice. The history of the use of incubators for premature infants is informative. Being a previous L&D nurse, this story was of particular interest to me. The characters were well described, what choices they made and what the results were. I particularly liked the character with the post traumatic war experiences and how those issues were not addressed at that time. I thought that the ending was a little rushed, however I will strongly recommend this book.

Stella Wright, a teacher of special needs students in 1950s Poughkeepsie, New York, is grieving the passing of her mother. Longing to find a way to give her students what they need, Stella abruptly resigns from her teaching job as a result of an ongoing battle of wills with her principal. Needing to find closure, Stella makes one last trip into New York City to sort through her mom's possessions. What she finds leads her on a journey into the past, uncovering a secret her mom had kept for over two decades. As the novel switches back and forth between 1926 and 1951, readers share in the discoveries Stella makes about her birth as a premature baby in the days when few options for treatment were available. Will Stella find the answers she seeks? Will she return to her school to fight for the education of those unable to advocate for themselves? Find out in this compelling story of agonizing decisions made in the name of love.

This historical fiction novel is set in two different eras and follows the lives of Althea Anderson, a nursing student in the 1920’s, and Stella Wright, a special education teacher in the 1950’s. Not only was this book well written and engaging, but I found the subject matter to be extremely interesting as it dealt with the first incubators that were used for premature babies on Coney Island - a piece of history I knew nothing about! It also touched on the injustices and prejudices that special education students were subjected to in the 1950’s and as a teacher myself this subject definitely appealed to me.
While both of the main characters are well developed and each of their life stories interesting, I found Althea’s story much more interesting than I did Stellas. I admired Althea’s strength and intelligence and while I did not agree with the decision she ultimately made, I understood her reason for it. I found Stella to be a much weaker character and annoying, to be honest. Granted, she was dealing with the loss of her mother as well as the loss of her job, but her constant whining and inability to move on was exasperating at times.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I am giving it 4 stars out of 5 mainly because I felt that the author could have done a better job in her portrayal of Stella. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books for a free electronic ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Description promised more than delivered. Liked the two narrative plot lines regarding early medical treatment of premature babies and the education of special needs children; however, the novel is more romance than history.

I really enjoyed this historical fiction book that was alternately narrated by the two main characters, a dedicated nurse in the 1920’s and a dedicated exceptional education teacher in the 1950’s. It was interesting and fun to see how the characters related as the story unfolded. The story was well-written and well-paced. Of special interest to me was reading about the medical treatment received by premature babies on Coney Island in the early 1900’s, a main theme of this story, as my children were born as early as those referenced in this book. I am thankful that the author chose to write about this topic in a well-researched manner, and surprised that this was a debut novel for Addison Armstrong...I would be interested in reading more of her books in the future!

Thank you very much to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for the advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest review,

This was well-written and the transitions in the story between Althea and Stella were done well. Some of the topics very vaguely reminded me of The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. I read a book recently that mentioned the incubator babies at Coney Island so I was slightly familiar with it, and it's definitely an interesting aspect of the novel. It also makes you realize how far medicine has come (not to mention women in the workforce). I'm looking forward to seeing what else this author writes!

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an advance copy of this book, because I knew from the phrase "neonatal ward on Coney Island in the 1920s" I was going to be absolutely obsessed.

Fun fact about me: Call The Midwife is my comfort TV, and I've secretly been hoping for a historical fiction novel that captures the inherent warmth, beauty, love, and incredible strength of nursing in the same way that show does.

Well, let me tell you. THE LIGHT OF LUNA PARK dove into my mind, pulled out exactly the book I wanted, and handed it to me.

THE LIGHT OF LUNA PARK is a beautiful ode to the power of love and family, especially the families we make ourselves. Both of the narrators—Althea and Stella—are powerful, compassionate, and deeply human women, and although I found myself drawn most deeply into Althea's narration, I loved them both in their own ways. It's clear that the author writes from a place of deep empathy and careful research, and I felt in deeply capable hands the whole way through.

There's even a star-crossed romance with a handsome feminist doctor who's good with kids. DID THE AUTHOR MAKE THIS BOOK TO ORDER FOR ME SPECIFICALLY.

This is a heartwarming and delightful debut from a talented author with a lot of promise. I can't wait to read what she does next!

What an interesting historical fiction novel about something I knew nothing about. It is also exciting is that is isn't a WWII historical fiction. The cover is striking and beautiful. The name, while it describes the book, doesn't quite do it for me, but oh well.

This is a dual timeline story that travels back and forth between two time periods and finally comes together to reveal all the facts. It is heartwarming and heartbreaking and it will keep you turning the pages to find out what happened and why. I had no idea this doctor nor his medical treatments were a part of history and I enjoyed reading about it. The main character experiences a crisis of morals/ethics and I agree that she did the right thing for all involved at the time.

This is this authors debut novel that she wrote while in school. It is well-researched and all the characters are fleshed out and their actions make sense. If her future novels are as good as this one, she has a bright future ahead of her.

This light historical fiction novel is the story of Althea Anderson, young nurse-in-training in 1920s New York who is doing a rotation in obstetrics. Having witnessed the birth of premature infants who were declared unable to survive by the attending doctors, Althea was determined to help give them a chance. She had read about Dr. Couney, who ran a Coney Island side show, where he displayed premature infants in incubators, which did not exist in standard hospitals at the time. Dismissed as a quack, Dr. Couney and his staff were responsible for saving thousands of infants' lives by enabling them to grow and thrive so that they could be returned to their parents.

The story flips back and forth to the 1920s and the 1950s, when young teacher Stella Wright discovers secret information about her mother, who recently passed away. As the story evolves, the reader is taken on a journey through the lives of these women and what matters most in their lives.

I really enjoyed this debut novel by Ms. Armstrong. After finishing the book, I discovered that Dr. Couney was real, and this prompted me to do further research. The characters were likable and genuine, though they seemed a bit too modern for the time period. While the story was a bit predictable, I still felt compelled to read on. This was definitely a quick read for me. I recommend it when you are looking for a light, historical fiction read that is easy to follow.

Thank you NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for an advanced e-reader copy of this book.