Number 62- Little- Edward Carey

 

Regular readers of this blog will know how much I like Edward Carey's books. I think this may be the longest of his that I've read so far, and that is a great thing!  More of his writing, more of his wonderful and weird artwork!

This one is a fictionalised biography of Anna Marie Grosholtz- better known to the world by her eventual married name of Madame Tussaud, and to her friends, in this version of her life, as Little. It follows her life from early childhood through to her marriage and relocation to London.

The key points of her life are all here. The deaths of her parents and her tutelage under Doctor Curtius in the art of shaping wax, her alleged time as tutor to Elisabeth, the sister of the King, the terror of the French revolution, and the founding of the famous London Gallery.

There are some fictional characters of course,  who serve to move the plot, and what great characters they are.  The Widow Picot is one of the most vile and loathesome characters I've read in many years.  I hated her with a vengeance, but Carey is skillful enough that even I sympathised with her by the end of her story arc.

As I reached the last 20% of this book I was genuinely sad that I was going to finish it soon. I wanted to stay in revolutionary France with Marie's (Little's)  narration for longer. I was genuinely moved by the fates of many of the characters as they passed from Little's life, one way or another. In modern yoof speak, this book hit me right in the feels. 

It's an easy contender for the best book of the year. It may well be my favourite Edward Carey book so far- and that's really saying something.