The Quintland Sisters by Shelley Wood

The birth of five tiny girls in Canada in 1934 was a medical miracle that caught the attention of the whole world and soon became a big circus sideshow worthy of Barnum and Bailey. Not only did the overwhelmed and child-laden parents think the quints wouldn't make it , but so did most of the medical community. They were taken away from their parents, made wards of the state and paraded around under glass, for all the world to see. Their story is told through the eyes of a 17-year-old living a sheltered life nearby who is asked to help at the babies delivery and stays on to become one of their long-lasting nurses. Emma tells this story through diary entries, newspaper articles, legal documents, and letters. There is a great deal of everyday information on the habits, routine, and general characters of the quintuplets but it gets a bit bogged down in Emma's story and her desire to become an established artist, fall in love and keep the friends she has found in the other nurses and myriad of background people. I enjoyed the "moment of truth" found in the author's notes that explains more about the girls and what happened to them later on in life.