The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman

This is an extraordinary novel. Set in New York, in 1911, the story is told by the two main characters as they recall their lives and we see how they are brought together.  Cora, an 18 year old woman who was born with webbing between her fingers pretends to be a human mermaid in her father's side show museum.  Eddie, whose name is really Ezekiel Cohen is a young photographer who emigrated from Russia with his father.  The story includes the Triangle  Shirtwaist factory fire and the Coney Island Dreamland sideshow fire as the historical backdrop for this romantic mystery.  The writing is beautiful and the research that the author did helped make this a fantastic book.