BOOK REVIEW: THE LITTLE GIANT OF ABERDEEN COUNTY BY TIFFANY BAKER

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Published by: Hodder (May 2009)

Pages: 350 (Paperback)

My Rating: 8.5/10

THE LITTLE GIANT OF ABERDEEN COUNTY BY TIFFANY BAKER

About the Book:
Truly Plaice is born larger than life into a small-minded town. Her birth rocks the pillars of tiny Aberdeen, New York, and breaks her family into smithereens.
She spends a painful childhood in the shadow of her older sister Serena’s beauty, and is teased mercilessly for her enormous physique. But when Serena unexpectedly vanishes and leaves her son in Truly’s care, Truly must become mistress of a house she did not choose and the unwilling victim of her brother-in-law, Dr. Robert Morgan. Once her childhood tormentor, he now subjects her to brutal criticism and cruel medical experiments that test her endurance past breaking point – but Truly may have more power than he realises...

First Lines:

"The day I laid Robert Morgan to rest was remarkable for two reasons. First, even though it was August, the sky overhead was as rough and cold as a January lake; and second, it was the day I started to shrink."

My Thoughts:

Have you ever finished a book, put it down, and then thought to yourself 'I'm really glad I read that book'? That's just how I felt at the end of this lovely story. It wasn't a book that I 'just couldn't put down', nor it was so gripping that I was turning the pages eagerly wanting to know what happens next, it was just a really entertaining 'feel good' story that made you feel happy to have known someone like Truly Plaice.

Her mother dies giving birth to her, her elder sister is beautiful, slim, popular - the exact opposite of the 'giant' - but Truly just seems to take everything in her stride and accepts her lot as just the way things are.

For once the heroine is not tall, slim and pretty and even Truly's own doctor says to her "But, my God, you're ugly."

As Truly grows older and larger, the small town inhabitants tease her, but she raises above it all and discovers family secrets that change not only her life but those around her.

The descriptive and detailed writing was a joy to read -

There was a half-moon up and a few moth-eaten stars hanging in the sky, as if Aberdeen had gotten the leftovers from a long-dead vaudeville show.

A thoroughly enjoyable read.

Tiffany Baker's website can be found here

Thanks go to Newman Communications for sending me a copy of this book.