The Impossible Girl by Lydia Kang is an impossibly good read.

The Impossible Girl is a rare breed of book in that it’s different from just about anything I’ve read before. Yes, it features many familiar trappings of the genre — a feisty heroine, a handsome love interest, family drama — but its unique features outnumber the familiar.

Set in 1850s New York, The Impossible Girl follows protagonist Cora Lee, the titular impossible girl because she was born with two hearts. This anatomical anomaly makes her a prime target of doctors and museum curators (a la PT Barnum) alike, who would like nothing more than to dissect and display her.

In other words, she has more value dead than alive to many.

To protect herself, she sometimes disguises herself as her “twin brother,” Jacob. The Lee “twins” run a group of resurrectionists, or grave robbers. Not only does digging up dead bodies and selling them make Cora an income, but it also provides her connections to make sure her secret stays, well, secret.

Her life is complicated when a medical student, Theodore Flint, pushes his way into her resurrectionist circle — and her hearts. She barely has time to deal with her growing feelings for him, though, when a string of murders puts her in danger.

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Cora is a fascinating, flawed and rootable protagonist. Through the novel, we watch her navigate the world through her dual identities and see her increasing frustration at how limited she is as Cora versus Jacob, despite being the same person.

The identity of Jacob provides Cora freedom and independence that a young nineteenth-century woman would not have on her own. She’s smart, savvy and not afraid to throw a punch or wield a knife whether in trousers or a petticoat.

She is also Othered in multiple intriguing ways: not only does she have a second heart that would make her a major prize and more medical knowledge than many medical students, but she is also half Chinese. Her mother, who died in childbirth, was the daughter of a well-to-do New York family while her father was an unnamed sailor. Her Asian heritage makes her stand out in a xenophobic time period.

As a result, trust is not something Cora gives easily. She wrestles with who she can let her walls down around, and even after she has made choices, she wonders if she has done the right thing, especially as the murder mystery deepens and the threat to her seems greater.

One area where I felt the novel wasn’t as strong as it could have been was in the portrayal of Theo. Like Cora, he is intelligent and makes mistakes but works to make up for them. And despite a delightful, if brash, entrance, he is not a particularly pushy character. This is welcome when so often we see male figures pushing female characters’ boundaries.

However, I never felt like I got to know him as well as I’d like. He is enigmatic — which does provide a level of interest — but is that enough for someone as strong-willed as Cora? This wasn’t enough to detract from my enjoyment, though, because of what Theo represents to Cora: the chance at a normal life, something Cora has never had or even dreamed of.

More than just enjoyable characters, though, the novel features a beautifully realized Victorian New York setting, particularly the seedy underbelly of grave robbing and public dissections. The novel doesn’t shy away from its dark aspects, instead leaning into them to create an eerie Gothic atmosphere.

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That Gothic atmosphere is only enhanced by intermittent brief chapters from the point of view of murder victims.

The medical aspects of the story add to the creepiness of the book, and the fact that Kang is a doctor as well as a writer explains the expertise with which they are described.

Of course, the murder mystery at the center of the novel is engaging. I felt suspicious of every new character Cora came in contact with, just, I’m sure, as Kang intended. From the seedy museum curator to the new female doctor trying to set up a practice in town, everyone seemed just a bit off through Cora’s eyes.

I’ll admit I probably should have seen the reveal coming, but I felt so suspicious of everyone, just like Cora, that it took me by surprise. And I shared Cora’s horror as the Bluebeard-esque truth came to light.

Once I picked up The Impossible Girl, it was almost, well, impossible to put it down. The writing is beautiful and lyrical, the atmosphere is haunting and the mystery is engaging. Fans of novels with strong heroines, period pieces and/or murder mysteries will all find something to love in this book.

The Impossible Girl by Lydia Kang is available now from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and your local independent bookstore. Also, don’t forget to add it to your Goodreads “to read” list!