In Renee Dodd’s first novel, “A Cabinet of Wonders,” readers are treated to a look into the inner workings of a carnival “freak show.”

Set in the late 1920s, just before the Great Depression, the book examines not only the interpersonal exchanges between the performers, but how they view themselves — and how they are viewed by the world around them.

The cast of characters is diverse: There’s Dugan, a dwarf battling his own deteriorating body; Saffron, the wolf-girl whose heart still belongs to her dead husband; Shadrach, the tattooed man; Alex, a sexually ambiguous — or is it ubiquitous? — character; a set of conjoined female teen twins; and Finch, a relatively normal gay black man with a love for photography.

Dodd, a Milledgeville resident, spent about two years writing the book. Then there was the process of finding an agent, and finally a publisher.

For full story, please see the August 29, 2006 edition of The Union-Recorder.