VIDEO: Excerpt/Exclusive Interview of Alice Hoffman on Her New Release, THE MUSEUM OF EXTRAORDINARY THINGS with Tony/Emmy Award Winner Judith Light

Mesmerizing and illuminating, Alice Hoffman's The Museum of Extraordinary Things is the story of an electric and impassioned love between two vastly different souls in New York during the volatile first decades of the twentieth century. Below, listen to an excerpt from the book and a discussion of Bestselling author Alice Hoffman with narrator Judith Light!

Coralie Sardie is the daughter of the sinister impresario behind The Museum of Extraordinary Things, a Coney Island boardwalk freak show that thrills the masses. An exceptional swimmer, Coralie appears as the Mermaid in her father's "museum," alongside performers like the Wolfman, the Butterfly Girl, and a one-hundred-year-old turtle. One night Coralie stumbles upon a striking young man taking pictures of moonlit trees in the woods off the Hudson River.

The dashing photographer is Eddie Cohen, a Russian immigrant who has run away from his father's Lower East Side Orthodox community and his job as a tailor's apprentice. When Eddie photographs the devastation on the streets of New York following the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, he becomes embroiled in the suspicious mystery behind a young woman's disappearance and ignites the heart of Coralie.

With its colorful crowds of bootleggers, heiresses, thugs, and idealists, New York itself becomes a riveting character as Hoffman weaves her trademark magic, romance, and masterful storytelling to unite Coralie and Eddie in a sizzling, tender, and moving story of young love in tumultuous times. The Museum of Extraordinary Things is Alice Hoffman at her most spellbinding.

Alice Hoffman is the author of twenty-eight works of fiction, including Practical Magic, The Red Garden, the Oprah's Book Club Selection Here on Earth, and the recent blockbuster bestseller The Dovekeepers. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

Judith Light is a star of stage, screen, and film. She has won two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, and many more for her work on Broadway. She is loved by television audiences for her work in such series as Who's the Boss?, Ugly Betty, and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, and has won two Emmy Awards. Her screen appearances have included Save Me, Ira and Abby, and Last Weekend. Judith is also a longtime HIV/AIDS, equal rights, and hunger activist and serves on many boards.