Edward Carey – illustratör

LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD, THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE, THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION AND THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE

'Wonderful' Max Porter

'Unmissable' Olga Tokarczuk

'Startlingly original' Times Book of the Year

There is a space between life and death: it's called waxworks.

Born in Alsace in 1761, the diminutive Marie Grosholtz is quickly nicknamed 'Little'. Orphaned at the age of six, she finds employment in the household of reclusive anatomist Dr Curtius. Soon the eccentric doctor takes an interest in his odd companion, and he begins to instruct her in the fine art of wax modelling, changing the course of her life.

From the gutters of pre-revolutionary France to the luxury of the Palace of Versailles, from clutching the still-warm heads of the Terror to finding something very like love, Little traces the improbable fortunes of a blood-stained crumb of a thing who went on to be the renowned Madame Tussaud.

MORE PRAISE FOR LITTLE:

'Visceral, vivid and moving' GUARDIAN

'A remarkable achievement' SUNDAY TIMES

'Don't miss this eccentric charmer' MARGARET ATWOOD

'Mesmerising' IRISH INDEPENDENT

'A tale as moving as it is macabre' MAIL ON SUNDAY

'Darkly fascinating' SUNDAY EXPRESS

'Clever and intriguing' DAILY MAIL

'Wonderfully weird' CELESTE NG

‘Haunting. Geppetto’s voice, full of wistful overemphases and bewildered revelation, is absorbing as he takes in the oddity of his situation. And the book, sentence by sentence, offers much in which to luxuriate.’ - Sunday Times

‘Profound and delightful. It is a strange and tender parable of two maddening obsessions; parenting and art-making’ – Max Porter

‘Strange, moving and musical, it’s a delight’ – A. L. Kennedy

‘A re-imagining of Pinocchio, told from the viewpoint of the beast-entrapped Geppetto, it surprise and delights, and saddens and gladdens, from start to finish.’  - Jane Graham

I am writing this account, in another man’s book, by candlelight, inside the belly of a fish. I have been eaten. I have been eaten, yet I am living still. 

‘Art objects live in the belly of this marvellous novel, images swallowed by text, sustained by a sublime and loving imagination. Like all Edward Carey's work The Swallowed Man is profound and delightful. It is a strange and tender parable of two maddening obsessions; parenting and art-making’  Max Porter

‘Strange and lovely’  Rhik Samadder

'A beautiful and dark meditation on fatherhood, mercy, redemption and the alchemy of isolation. Strange, moving and musical, it's a delight' A. L. Kennedy

From the acclaimed author of Little comes this beautiful and haunting imagining of the years Geppetto spends within the belly of a sea beast.

Drawing upon the Pinocchio story while creating something entirely his own, Carey tells an unforgettable tale of fatherly love and loss, pride and regret, and of the sustaining power of art and imagination.