Little

About the Book

LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD, THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE, THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION AND THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE

'Wonderful' Max Porter

'Unmissable' Olga Tokarczuk

'Startlingly original' Times Book of the Year

There is a space between life and death: it's called waxworks.

Born in Alsace in 1761, the diminutive Marie Grosholtz is quickly nicknamed 'Little'. Orphaned at the age of six, she finds employment in the household of reclusive anatomist Dr Curtius. Soon the eccentric doctor takes an interest in his odd companion, and he begins to instruct her in the fine art of wax modelling, changing the course of her life.

From the gutters of pre-revolutionary France to the luxury of the Palace of Versailles, from clutching the still-warm heads of the Terror to finding something very like love, Little traces the improbable fortunes of a blood-stained crumb of a thing who went on to be the renowned Madame Tussaud.

MORE PRAISE FOR LITTLE:

'Visceral, vivid and moving' GUARDIAN

'A remarkable achievement' SUNDAY TIMES

'Don't miss this eccentric charmer' MARGARET ATWOOD

'Mesmerising' IRISH INDEPENDENT

'A tale as moving as it is macabre' MAIL ON SUNDAY

'Darkly fascinating' SUNDAY EXPRESS

'Clever and intriguing' DAILY MAIL

'Wonderfully weird' CELESTE NG

About the Author :
Edward Carey was born in Norfolk, England. He is a novelist, visual artist and has also written and directed a number of plays for the National Theatre of Romania and the Vilnius Small State Theatre, Lithuania. In England his plays and adaptations have been performed at the Young Vic Studio, the Battersea Arts Centre, and the Royal Opera House Studio. He is the author of the novels Observatory Mansions, Alva and Irva, and the acclaimed YA series The Iremonger Trilogy, which has been published in thirteen countries and has been optioned for film adaptation. After university, Edward worked at Madame Tussaud in London, preventing people from touching the waxworks, and it was there that he learnt the incredible story of the museum's founder. Edward lives in Austin, Texas in the United States, and teaches at the University of Austin.

Review :
Rich and engrossing, there is an extraordinary potency to Carey's material . . . A visceral, vivid and moving novel One of the most original historical novels of the year . . . Inspired, vivid and macabre, Little is a remarkable achievement' Don't miss this eccentric charmer Wonderful The beautifully told (and illustrated!) story of the life of Marie Tussaud, or how tall trees can grow from small seeds. An eccentric atmosphere, a macabre sense of humour, we experience this book with a sense of youthful joy. An unmissable book Startlingly original . . . [Carey] finds and treasures the ironies and macabre eccentricities of Tussaud's world. The pages are also enriched by his beautiful and haunting illustrations Edward Carey is one of the strangest writers we are privileged to have in this country Absolutely brilliant Marie's story is fascinating in itself, but Carey's talent makes her journey a thing of wonder Uniquely inventive . . . It is variously nightmarish, dreamy, sensual, emotionally affecting and very funny A gripping novel of shy wit and darkly humorous occurrences . . . Mesmerising in its virtuosity Carey creates a quirky, indelible character in Little, sprinkles idiosyncratic drawings throughout and folds his narrative in cunning ways A tale as moving as it is macabre A darkly fascinating tale packed full of vivid historical detail and quaint, engaging characters Compelling . . . Carey's story is cinematic in scope and fairy tale-like in its attention to coincidence - and to the fateful cycle of pride and fall Poignant and absorbing Clever and intriguing In this gloriously gruesome imagining of the girlhood of Marie Tussaud, mistress of wax, fleas will bite, rats will run and heads will roll and roll and roll . . . I bloody loved it A startlingly remarkable flight of historical fancy where fact, fiction, tragedy and Grand Guignol collide Carey's flair for macabre whimsy has drawn comparisons to Tim Burton - but while death haunts this story, Little is a novel that teems with life Written with relentless energy, flair and finesse Full of rich detail and beautiful illustrations . . . A rare treat that will stay with you long after you turn the final page What a bizarrely brilliant book. An absorbing, moving and darkly humorous reimagining of the life of Marie Groscholtz, the little servant girl who would become Madame Tussaud By turns witty, ghoulish and poignant - a historical novel unlike any other' Strange and delightful' Little is that rare thing - a unique novel with a unique and fully realised voice, rich in deadpan wit and surgically precise observation. By turns tragic, bizarre and deeply moving, it is an absolute delight An utter triumph . . . I was blown away Compulsively readable: so canny and weird and surfeited with the reality of human capacity and ingenuity that I am stymied for comparison. Dickens and David Lynch? Defoe meets Atwood? Judge for yourself Edward Carey writes wonderfully weird books about wonderfully weird things. This one is a hefty historical novel that promises to be a pageturner An exquisitely disturbing treasure of a novel. Sensual, unassumingly poignant, hilarious, heartbreaking, cruel, joyous: one of the most intoxicating novels I've ever read Moving, dark, and occasionally heartbreaking - a book to be read by the light of a flickering candle Bawdy, tragic, mesmerising, hilarious. If you've forgotten why you'd even read a novel, Edward Carey is here to set you straight Exquisitely sensitive to all the warmth, vigour, humour, woe, and peculiarities of human nature, as if Carey had a dowsing rod capable of divining what hides within the human heart I marvel at the achievement of this book . . . Little isn't about history; it's about humans, and bodies, and art, and loneliness, and it's deeply, painfully sad. I could talk about it forever Dark and delightful, playful and peculiar, Little is simply magnetic: Carey's words seem to dance on the page. Little is big in many ways: creativity, energy, concept and character. Leave plenty of room in your heart for this one; you'll need it With an irresistible cast of grotesques and a delicious lightness of touch, Little delivers a great and peculiar vision of Paris crashing over the rapids A perfectly weaved story of a woman who has captured the imagination of many, but has been written about by few This historical novel about the wax-sculptor who would become the world-renowned Madame Tussaud looks uncannily like a real-life classic The kind of book you want to shove into the hands of all your friends, just so you have someone to gush about it with Little is quirky, eccentric, offbeat, Gothic and all the other descriptives fondly applied to Carey's peculiarly elegant prose Gruesomely entertaining . . . This rousing, macabre novel showcases a sensibility that falls somewhere between Les Misérables and the works of Edward Gorey There is nothing ordinary about this book. Carey, with sumptuous turns of phrase, fashions a fantastical world that churns with vitality . . . at once surreal and full of heart Carey channels the ghosts of Dickens, Fielding, and the Brothers Grimm to tell Marie's tale . . . A quirky, compelling story that deepens into a meditation on mortality and art A wonderfully weird exploration of spectacles, from wax heads to revolutions, that will delight lovers of the macabre Lavishly illustrated with strange and compelling drawings, Little is a boldly original reimagining of the life of Madame Tussaud An immensely creative epic . . . The unique perspective, witty narrative voice, and clever illustrations make for an irresistible read