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A Novel
by Edward Carey
Book Reviewed by:The wry, macabre, unforgettable tale of an ambitious orphan in Revolutionary Paris, befriended by royalty and radicals, who transforms herself into the legendary Madame Tussaud.
In 1761, a tiny, odd-looking girl named Marie is born in a village in Switzerland. After the death of her parents, she is apprenticed to an eccentric wax sculptor and whisked off to the seamy streets of Paris, where they meet a domineering widow and her quiet, pale son. Together, they convert an abandoned monkey house into an exhibition hall for wax heads, and the spectacle becomes a sensation. As word of her artistic talent spreads, Marie is called to Versailles, where she tutors a princess and saves Marie Antoinette in childbirth. But outside the palace walls, Paris is roiling: The revolutionary mob is demanding heads, and ... at the wax museum, heads are what they do.
In the tradition of Gregory Maguire's Wicked and Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus, Edward Carey's Little is a darkly endearing cavalcade of a novel--a story of art, class, determination, and how we hold on to what we love.
This is a rare gem of a book, lacking absolutely nothing. Beautifully written, fully realized and truly engrossing, Little can be read again and again...continued
Full Review
(430 words)
(Reviewed by Natalie Vaynberg).
Edward Carey's Little spans some of the most turbulent years in French history. A particularly ghastly chapter focuses on the Reign of Terror, during which little Marie, the novel's protagonist, spends months fearing for her own life and that of her family. Over two centuries later, the French Revolution calls to mind scenes of terror and blood lust.
The Reign of Terror, which began in 1793 following the execution of King Louis XVI and lasted about 11 months, saw the imprisonment of 300,000 people, all of whom were declared to be the enemies of the Revolution. Among them, about 10,000 died in prison awaiting trial and a further 17,000 were executed, mostly with the dreaded guillotine. At the heart of it all was one man—...
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Little is bawdy, tragic, mesmerizing, hilarious. If you've forgotten why you'd even read a novel, Edward Carey is here to set you straight.
