Little, Big

or, The Fairies' Parliament

By: John Crowley

Narrated by: John Crowley

Length: 24 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Edgewood - which is not found on any map - is many houses, all put inside each other or across each other. It’s filled with and surrounded by mystery and enchantment; the further in you go, the bigger it gets.

Smoky Barnable, who has fallen in love with Daily Alice Drinkwater, travels from the City on foot to Edgewood, her family home. There he finds himself on the magical border of an otherworld.

Crowley’s work has a special alchemy - mixing the world we know with an imagined world that seems more true and real. Winner of the World Fantasy Award, Little, Big is elegant, sensual, funny, and unforgettable. It is a story of fantastic love and heartrending loss, of impossible things and unshakable destinies, and of the great Tale that envelops us all. It is a wonder.

John Crowley is an American writer who has also worked in television and documentary films. His fantasy and science fiction have established him as a major voice in imaginative writing. His other novels include The Deep, Engine Summer, and Ægypt.

©1981 2010 by John Crowley; Edition 2010 by Ron Drummond (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A book that all by itself calls for a redefinition of fantasy.” (Ursula K. Le Guin)

Fantastic!

The rhythm of the rhetoric and narration is beautiful. Inspires a whimsical sense of wonder. I enjoyed relaxing with this at the end of the day.

love it when authors read their own work.

I love it when authors read their own work. I highly recommend this book

One of my favorite books of all time

A dreamy story full of unexpected beauty read by the author, a truly great narrator

Superb

Like fairy tales? Fond of Jeff Van Dermeer? Then you will LOVE this. Great take covering multiple generations of a very ‘interesting’ family.
I just finished and I know I will listen again.

Amazing writing

I have had under external influences the same sense of paths that were real and not real, but well established either way; of presences that were there and not.
The prose is lovely, the writing is incredible, and the entire thing is exceptionally and rarely crafted.
There are few swirls of intensity here, most of it seems pastel, and the author's narration does not help this. I'm glad he read it and I wish someone else had read it. It was like an impressionist painting with no features terribly clear. The setting is deliberately fuzzy and perfectly slightly surreal. I am not sure whether there was a plot or whether there was supposed to be a plot. I am not sure whether I really cared or identified with any of the characters. I liked the degree of meta. I cried at the end but I almost discarded it a third of the way in because it wasn't going anywhere. I am not sure whether it ever did. I'm glad I read it and I'm still irritated at it. I longed for more clarity and intensity, but that's just me.

Loved the voice talent

What a great book. I'm not going to say much for fear of spoilers for others. I really enjoyed the author's voice-talent performance. Great job all around.

not for everyone....

... but for those for whom it is, it is beautiful. If it seems slow to you at first, consider that this book, like the house at Edgewood, is made of time

A SAGA SO....FANTASTICAL, PHANTASMAGORICAL

It was a looonnnnng story. At first I felt impatient with this thinking this is so long, how am I ever going to get through it? After a while, however, I became so engrossed in the whole thing I forgot to think how long it was, and the hours just flew by.

I borrowed this book through the Romance Package but may buy it at some point because this story is so deeply complex with so much going on and so many, many details it was quite impossible ( for me, anyway) to grasp everything in the first go round. In fact, I think this is something I would enjoy listening to again and again, getting more of the details and a deeper understanding each time.

Oh, and the author, John Crowley, does a really mind blowing job with the narration- wonderful, just wonderful! His sweet voice and hypnotic tone add more (enchantment) to an already enchanting tale.

Would I recommend this audiobook? Oh yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes!!

Such a beautiful book

I enjoyed the story and the narration immensely. It is always best when authors narrate their own works.
Any lover of myth and fairytales will enjoy this gorgeously written story of fate and love and time.

wow

the Best writing I have heard in fantasy fiction since Gene Wolfe. can't say enough about how good this is. I can't wait to listen for Crowley's other works.