The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker

When Truly Plaice's mother was pregnant, the town of Aberdeen joined together in betting how recordbreakingly huge the baby boy would ultimately be. The girl who proved to be Truly paid the price of her enormity; her father blamed her for her mother's death in childbirth, and was totally ill equipped to raise either this giant child or her polar opposite sister Serena Jane, the epitome of femine perfection. When he, too, relinquished his increasingly tenuous grip on life, Truly and Serena Jane are separated--Serena Jane to live a life of privilege as the future May Queen and Truly to live on the outskirts of town on the farm of the town sadsack, the subject of constant abuse and humiliation at the hands of her peers. Serena Jane's beauty proves to be her greatest blessing and her biggest curse, for it makes her the obsession of classmate Bob Bob Morgan, the youngest in a line of Robert Morgans who have been doctors in Aberdeen for generations. Though they have long been the pillars of the community, the earliest Robert Morgan married the town witch, Tabitha Dyerson, and the location of her fabled shadow book--containing mysterious secrets for healing and darker powers--has been the subject of town gossip ever since. Bob Bob Morgan, one of Truly's biggest tormentors, does the unthinkable to claim the prize of Serena Jane, and changes the destiny of all Aberdeen from there on. When Serena Jane flees town and a loveless marriage to Bob Bob, it is Truly who must become the woman of a house that she did not choose and mother to her eight-year-old nephew Bobbie. Truly's brother-in-law is relentless and brutal; he criticizes her physique and the limitations of her health as a result, and degrades her more than any one human could bear. It is only when Truly finds her calling--the ability to heal illness with herbs and naturopathic techniques--hidden within the folds of Robert Morgan's family quilt, that she begins to regain control over her life and herself. Unearthed family secrets, however, will lead to the kind of betrayal that eventually break the Morgan family apart forever, but Truly's reckoning with her own demons allows for both an uprooting of Aberdeen County, and the possibility of love in unexpected places. Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Baker's bangup debut mixes the exuberant eccentricities of John Irving's Garp, Anne Tyler's relationship savvy and the plangent voice of Margaret Atwood. In an upstate New York backwater, Truly, massive from birth, has a bleak existence with her depressed father and her china-doll-like sister, Serena Jane. Truly grows at an astonishing rate--her girth the result of a pituitary gland problem--and after her father dies when Truly is 12, Truly is sloughed off to the Dyersons, a hapless farming family. Her outsize kindness surfaces as she befriends the Dyersons' outcast daughter, Amelia, and later leaves her beloved Dyerson farm to take care of Serena Jane's husband and son after Serena Jane leaves them. Haunting the margins of Truly's story is that of Tabitha Dyerson, a rumored witch whose secrets afford a breathtaking role reversal for Truly. It's got all the earmarks of a hit--infectious and lovable narrator, a dash of magic, an impressive sweep and a heartrending but not treacly family drama. It'll be a shame if this doesn't race up the bestseller lists. (Jan.) Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Bookmarks Magazine A gothic, macabre tale involving revenge, redemption, folk medicine, and magic, The Little Giantgarnered ample praise from critics, who were perhaps surprised that the story of a gargantuan woman captivated them so thoroughly. Although the first part, which focuses on the relationship between Truly and Serena Jane, contains elements of melodrama, it allows Baker to explore the contrast between all kinds of beauty and ugliness. Baker moves on to explore issues such as family, betrayal, love, and friendship (her attempts to tackle topics such as euthanasia, rape, and sexual orientation fall a little flat). A few critics also faulted Trudy's unrealistic first-person but omniscient narration, but this was a minor complaint in a compelling, emotional, and intelligent novel from an author to watch. Copyright 2009 Bookmarks Publishing LLC From Booklist Truly is born into a life of suffering and tragedy. Her mother dies in childbirth, and her father is ill equipped to deal with either of his two daughters. Truly's sister, Serena Jane, is the acknowledged town beauty, while Truly suffers from an illness that causes her to grow way beyond normal size. When their father also dies, the girls are split up, and their lives diverge and reconnect in ways neither could imagine. Woven into the story of the sisters is a larger story of women and the ways they are forced to navigate the world. Although primarily a straightforward story, the novel is infused with moments of magic realism. At times the town of Aberdeen, with its stereotypical small-town prejudices and quirks, seems a little too familiar. Overall, though, the novel charms and will find a devoted audience. --Marta Segal Block Review THE LITTLE GIANT OF ABERDEEN COUNTY grabs you from its astonishing beginning to its riveting conclusion. Its charms are multitude-- a wholly unique love story, a devastating friendship, a bewitching multi-generational history, all brought to an apex in the larger-than-life personage of Truly, a heroine simultaneously infused with a quiet and dignified grace and peculiar sense of purpose. This dark-yet-rolicking debut is a must-read. (Sara Gruen, author of WATER FOR ELEPHANTS) A beautiful, startling and wholly original novel, LGOAC is infused with magic, lush language, and surprises on every page. Tiffany Baker has given us a flawed, prickly, enchanting heroine in Truly--part Cinderella, part Witch, part Behemoth. In ther timeless story of small town life, the boundary between reality and fairy tale does not exist, and happy endings are possible but hard-won. This book is a treasure. (Stephanie Kallos, author of BROKEN FOR YOU) TLGOAC read so fresh and unfolded in such surprising ways that I was captivated from start to finish. It's a bracing, bright, masterful debut, and Tiffany Baker is a writer to watch. (Joshilyn Jackson, author of THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING) Baker's bangup debut mixes the exuberant eccentricities of John Irving's Garp, Anne Taylor's relationship savvy, and the plangent voice of Margaret Atwood. (Publishers Weekly-- starred review) This fun, folkloric story is part Ugly Duckling, part Tim Burton's Big Fish . . . For anyone looking to vanquish the cruelties of the real world, this one's for you. (Marie Clarie) So enchanting . . . an American fairy tale that's part Alice Hoffman, part Brothers Grimm. (Christian Science Monitor) An alluring plot . . . lush voice . . . Baker has a good sense of the dark comedy of melodrama. (Washington Post) One splendid book. . . Pick of the week. (Boston Sunday Globe) This novel twists and turns . . . Baker's writing is beautiful. (Las Vegas Review-Journal) About the Author Tiffany Baker lives in Tiburon, California with her husband and three children. This is her first novel.