Curiosity House: The Shrunken Head is the first novel in a new series by Lauren Oliver which is co-authored with a mysterious recluse.
Blessed with extraordinary abilities, orphans Philippa, Sam, and Thomas have grown up in Dumfrey’s Dime Museum of Freaks, Oddities, and Wonders for as long as they can remember. Philippa is a powerful mentalist, Sam is the world’s strongest boy, and Thomas can squeeze himself into a space no bigger than a breadbox. The children live happily with museum owner Mr. Dumfrey, alongside other misfits and freaks. But when a fourth child, Mackenzie (Max), a knife-thrower with deadly accuracy, joins the group, it sets off an unforgettable chain of events.
When the museum’s most prized possession, an Amazonian shrunken head, is stolen, the four are determined to get it back. But their search leads them to a series of murders and an explosive secret about their pasts.
This sensational new series combines the unparalleled storytelling gifts of Lauren Oliver with the rich knowledge of the notorious relics collector H.C. Chester.
From Lauren Oliver
I’ve been working on this series with the brilliant, bizarre, and incredibly reclusive relics collector H.C. Chester., which is partly why I haven’t been able to publicize the book until now. (When I say reclusive, I mean I was the first person to be allowed entry to his house in fifteen years!!) Let me back up: several years ago I was strolling Paris with my dad, browsing the antique books, prints, and art pieces that are famously sold by “bouquinistes” (book stalls) along the Seine. I came across an insane collection of old memorabilia from the same old and long-defunct dime museum. There were photographs of bearded ladies and an elephant man, various weird artifacts the museum had collected, etc. I asked the guy selling the stuff where he’d procured all the photographs, and he told me that they’d all been given to him by a single person—one H. C. Chester, miraculously living in New York. (Turns out H. C. Chester’s home, which is more like a mansion, has been in the family for multiple generations, and he’s lived there since he was born, but that’s another story.)