Little Nothing
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
An enchanting, atmospheric new novel from New York Times-bestselling author Marisa Silver
In an unnamed country at the beginning of the last century, a peasant couple longs for a child. In despair they turn to gypsy tonics and archaic prescriptions, and one cold wintery night, the couple’s wish comes true. But the silence that follows the birth forewarns of darker days to come. Strangers look on askance and fall speechless in the child’s presence, and villagers protectively hush their children as they pass on narrow market lanes. Pavla is no ordinary child, but then this is no ordinary tale.
Woven throughout is the story of Danilo, a young man who sees beauty where others see ugliness, and who is obsessed only with protecting Pavla. Drawing from a rich tapestry of fables, fairy tales and folklore, Little Nothing is a fantastically inventive, suspenseful allegory, and one of the most quixotic and constantly surprising love stories you will read this year.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Silver's latest novel reads like a fairy tale, following two characters in a time and place that may be a century ago, and may be Europe. Pavla is born a dwarf with a lovely face. Danilo is a tinkerer indentured to a charlatan, Dr. Smetanka, in order to repay a family debt. Pavla's aging parents bundle her onto a wagon and into the evil arms of Smetanka, seeking a cure. Smetanka orders the handy Danilo to build a moving table that becomes an instrument of torture, transforming Pavla into the first of her several incarnations. Smetanka forces Pavla on stage with Danilo as part of his freak show, though their pantomime is also a love story of sorts. Each actor loves the other, but neither has the self-confidence to declare it off stage. One tragedy after another separates the star-crossed lovers in a strange series of incidents and reincarnations. Pavla serves to remind readers of the moral of the story, that a good soul can find transcendence in the face of unbearable odds. And in Danilo readers will recognize their own longing for transcendence and meaning as he transforms himself through pain and sorrow into a man of courage and ingenuity.
