DEBUT This first novel takes on the real-life story of the Dionne Quintuplets, born in Northern Ontario in 1934. Fictional nurse Emma Trimpany follows the journey of these five girls who were taken from their French Canadian family and raised "scientifically" by the Ontario government until age nine. The Dionne Quints were a huge tourist attraction and in later life sued the government for a share of the millions made off their childhoods. This novel is told in letters and journal entries by Emma, interspersed with newspaper clippings (some real, some invented). The majority of the characters are real, and Emma's role is one of observer; when the Dionne experiment ends, the author seems a little uncertain where to take her fictional characters, and so the denouement is a series of disasters visited upon the unlucky Emma. VERDICT While the Dionne story is fascinating, the fictional elements are underdeveloped, with historical reportage taking the lead. For a deeper understanding of the true story, readers would be better off with one of the classic biographies or one of the Dionne sisters' memoirs. [See Prepub Alert, 10/1/18.]—Melanie Kindrachuk, Stratford P.L., Ont.

Wood's intriguing debut is a fictionalized version of the real events surrounding the birth of the Dionne quintuplets in 1934 rural Canada. In Corbeil, Ontario, 17-year-old Emma Trimpany accompanies a midwife to a birth at the Dionne home, because Emma's mother has decided that midwifery is a suitable profession for Emma. Emma assists with the birth of the five impossibly tiny girls, who are kept warm in an apple crate placed in front of a wood stove. Emma works with nurses and Dr. Allan Dafoe as they care for the young girls round the clock, trying to keep them as healthy as possible. Against all odds, the quintuplets—Marie, Cecile, Emilie, Yvonne, and Annette—continue to grow and thrive as the Canadian government steps in to provide financial assistance and eventually becomes a custodian of the quintuplets. Through Emma's journal entries and newspaper clippings, the lives of the five young girls unfold as they reside in a hospital across the road from the farmhouse where they were born and become a major tourist attraction. Wood cleverly combines fact and fiction in a fast-paced novel that will leave readers contemplating how the best intentions of government intervention can have dire, unanticipated consequences. Agent: Transatlantic Literary Agency, Inc. (Mar.)

Wood's intriguing debut is a fictionalized version of the real events surrounding the birth of the Dionne quintuplets in 1934 rural Canada. In Corbeil, Ontario, 17-year-old Emma Trimpany accompanies a midwife to a birth at the Dionne home, because Emma's mother has decided that midwifery is a suitable profession for Emma. Emma assists with the birth of the five impossibly tiny girls, who are kept warm in an apple crate placed in front of a wood stove. Emma works with nurses and Dr. Allan Dafoe as they care for the young girls round the clock, trying to keep them as healthy as possible. Against all odds, the quintuplets—Marie, Cecile, Emilie, Yvonne, and Annette—continue to grow and thrive as the Canadian government steps in to provide financial assistance and eventually becomes a custodian of the quintuplets. Through Emma's journal entries and newspaper clippings, the lives of the five young girls unfold as they reside in a hospital across the road from the farmhouse where they were born and become a major tourist attraction. Wood cleverly combines fact and fiction in a fast-paced novel that will leave readers contemplating how the best intentions of government intervention can have dire, unanticipated consequences. Agent: Transatlantic Literary Agency, Inc. (Mar.)