The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin

 At 32” no one expects anything from her and everyone wants to protect her. As much as she appreciates the protection and love of her family, she still wants something more from life. Coming from a small town, she craves the big world. With her intelligence and ambitious spirit, she goes on to become a legend, dining with Presidents, Vanderbildts, and Astors among others.

Massachusetts, late 19th century. Mercy Lavinia “Vinnie” Warren Bump is raised on a family farm. Through her hard work and diligence, at sixteen-years-old, she becomes a primary school teacher to a surprise of many. She has proved that her size has nothing to do with her mind or even her will. From an early age she used her talent for singing to sooth her classmates with ballads.

Having her mother crying over Lavinia’s lonely and loveless fate, Lavinia becomes even more restless. When a man, who claims to be their cousin, appears at their house and offers her a position in his show on the floating boat on Mississippi River. This is her chance to leave a small town and experience the bigger world and see things she can only imagine here. But being around actors and dancers, displaying oneself before the public, that’s not something to be proud of. It’s viewed as something shameful. Nevertheless, she makes her own decision.

After an eventful and questionable time on the floating boat, she joins P.T. Barnum, the famous promoter in New York. This time she makes sure she is treated as a professional and not someone being on display.

In this biographical fiction, the dimensions are beautifully breathed into the characters and dialogue. All that progresses the story and the events that make the story grasping. It’s all a testament of a very skillful writing.

And what interested the author in writing Lavinia’s story was her intelligence and ambition. And that is very well reflected in this story. As much as Lavinia loves her family, she doesn’t want to be taken care of. She wants to forge her own path. “To have a greater purpose.” She is sharp, intelligent, driven. She enjoys conversations about politics, music, art that reflect her own opinions based on her knowledge, and not just a repetition of someone else’s opinion.

Beautifully drawn characters. They are so human with their emotions, showing what makes them happy, scared, disappointed, frustrated. What they hope for and dream about.

Enjoyed small details of the time period, giving a good sense of the time. How it progressed with trains and mapping, and telegram. So you could arrange your trip much easier and book a room before getting there and the talk of setting “standardized time.” So “no longer would each individual village or town set its own clock by the sun.” And rumors of electricity running to small towns.

Heartfelt writing, infusing characters with humanity and passion, keeping the plot moving and bringing the past alive profoundly, showing us the progress of the time and that some things don’t change such as ambition and being driven and taking chances in life.

Released in 2011

Publisher: Bantam