“An amazing achievement. . . A compulsively readable novel, 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 Margaret Atwood? Judge for yourself.” —Gregory Maguire, New York Times-bestselling author of WickedThe wry, macabre, unforgettable tale of an ambitious orphan in Revolutionary Paris, … 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.
more
Interesting but seemed to end to soon
This piece of historical fiction gave me significant insight into daily life for regular folk around the time of the French Revolution. That Little became Mme. Tussaud whose wax museum in London I will soon be visiting gave the book extra appeal.
Couldn’t put it down.
Outstanding and imaginative story. Brings to life the terror and insanity of the French Revolution.
I loved the narrator’s voice in this book. It grabbed me from the first page. Excellent!
Great Historical read abou Madame Toussaud how she became so famous. A different perspective of the the French Revolution is also included in this book.
I enjoyed the characters and it was interesting learning how wax sculptures were first designed. It did get a bit repetitive with all the details of all of the casts being done. The main characters, Little, Edmond and Widow Picot and Curtius became very real. Learning more about the French Revolution and historical participants held the whole story together. Such a different spin on that chaotic time in France. Definitely a good read.
Unique and well-written. A book that stays with you.
This was a strange, haunting yet quirky book about Madame Toussaude and her life. Just loved the drawings throughout the book and the amazing historical depiction of the time of the French Revolution!
In the author’s Afterword, Edward Carey explains that it took fifteen years for him to write this book. And it shows. This book is brilliantly crafted! Creatively conceived, with a quirky and distinctive writing style, and a fascinating glimpse into a downright grim period of French history.
At the center of the story is Anna Marie Grosholtz, who grows up to become Madame Tussaud of wax works fame. Most of us have heard of, if not visited, one of the museums that bear her name. And while it may not be high art, it’s lots of fun! LITTLE tells Tussaud’s plausible back story. And what Carey offers is nothing short of fascinating.
Anna Marie was born in 1761 in a small town to an impoverished family, who relocated to Paris shortly after her father’s death. Marie and her mother wind up moving to Paris to clean house for a strange physician who dabbles in wax works, as a method of studying human anatomy. And so, Marie begins learning this craft, until she becomes Dr. Curtius’s assistant as he transitions into making wax heads from castes of live people.
For a time, these heads become a sort of status symbol to locals, creating a successful business for the doctor. And Marie winds up meeting some VERY prominent people of the era. Until, of course, the French Revolution begins and the wax work takes on a more grizzly and macabre nature – but no spoilers.
Marie’s life in Paris gives her a front-row seat to all the dramatic events unfolding in France — from the reigns of King Louis XV and Louis XVI, through the bloody French Revolution, and up to the appearance of Napoleon. Only after 1802, when Marie moves to London, does she become famous in her own right.
Marie’s story is dramatic, though I don’t want to go into details and spoil your own discovery. She demonstrates great intelligence and determination which allow her to survive when so many around her do not. And Carey has created a whole collection of unique characters, beyond Dr. Curtius and Marie. There is the self-absorbed widow, who helps run the wax head business, and her son Edmond, who becomes one of Marie’s only friends.
Equally interesting to me is the not-so-flattering portrait of Paris, nothing like the glittering city we know today. During Marie’s time, it is filled with dirt, disease, poverty, injustice, violence, and anger. And day-to-day survival is a real game of chance.
Another delightful feature are the author’s drawings, sprinkled throughout the novel, which add so much realism to the wax figures Curtius and Marie create. And flesh out the main characters too.
I highly recommend this imaginative piece of historical fiction for the rich, full, and complete picture it paints of this time period. And of this plucky young girl. And for the skillful way Carey uses just the right amount of detail to bring everything to life.
“Little” is a charming and captivating work of historical fiction based on the life of Anne Maria “Marie” Grosholtz, who became Madame Tussaud. It is so deeply satisfying that it makes us remember why we love reading novels.
Mesmerizing and macabre. Tragic and hilarious. Poignant and joyous. Everything you’d ever need to be completely enthralled.
It is told by Marie, known as Little for her diminutive stature, in a most delightful voice and language. The prose is exquisite.
Little is born in Strasbourg, France in 1761. After her father succumbs from wounds received in The Seven Years’ War, her mother is offered a domestic position at the house of Dr. Philip Curtius in Bern, Switzerland.
The doctor is a wax modeler of human organs and body parts. There Marie is introduced to anatomy, plaster and wax and becomes Curtius’ assistant. Soon they are casting living heads of few prominent local men.
Tragedy strikes and Marie and the doctor flee to Paris with the aid of a benefactor. It is in the city that they open a wax museum, where Little meets the royal family (her first plaster is the head of Louis XVI!), and lives through the French Revolution. A terrible period in history, but a good season for heads.
I’m going to leave it there and not reveal anymore.
I will say that you’ll be entirely taken-in by this richly absorbing tale.
I loved it.
“Little” is in my top five books published this year.
Little is exquisitely sensitive to all the warmth, vigor, humor, woe, and peculiarities of human nature, as if the writer had a dowsing rod capable of divining what hides within the human heart. Carey is without peer.