The Dime Museum

In Joyce Hinnefeld’s compelling novel in stories, The Dime Museum, the lives of a vaudevillian male impersonator, a Vietnam vet turned gardener, an aimless poet, a German violinist, and a disaffected feminist scholar, ex-pats, nurses, nannies, and heart-worn mothers intersect in surprising ways. As they seek love and solace, their lives are bound up with the historic preoccupations of modernity, meaning, privilege, and inclusion. In the end, the youngest of them are left to face the daunting and ongoing wake of the twentieth century.