Little, Big

or, The Fairies’ Parliament

By: John Crowley

Narrated by: John Crowley

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.

©1981 , 2012, 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)

“Little, Big is one of those sprawling, dream-like fantasy novels that has very British sensibilities but, paradoxically, it takes the Americans to do really well...The esteemed literary critic Harold Bloom called Little, Big ‘a neglected masterpiece. The closest achievement we have to the Alice stories of Lewis Carroll’, and the vast novel does have an almost soporific, Wonderland quality to it—best read on lazy days in dappled sunshine.”

(Guardian (London))

“Crowley is generous, obsessed, fascinating, gripping. Really, I think Crowley is so good that he has left everybody else in the dust.”

(Peter Straub, award-winning horror fiction author)

“One of my favorite works of modern fantasy, Little, Big is an amazing tale told in an amazing way. Reading it I felt as if I were watching a high-wire artist: one slip and he would fall into the dreadful net of Twee. Yet Crowley never slips, not upon a single word, and the book grows more powerful with every page.”

(Katharine Kerr, bestselling author)

“John Crowley writes sentences of such coruscating magnificence that the rest of the English language has fallen in love with them. I once knew an adverbial clause who was so infatuated with the linguistic beauty of Little, Big that the poor creature pined away into a comma.”

(James Morrow, World Fantasy Award–winning author)

“Ambitious, dazzling, strangely moving, a marvelous magic-realist family chronicle.”

(Washington Post)

“A haunting and suspenseful adventure transports the listener into a realm at once enchantingly ethereal and grounded in our ordinary world. John Crowley knows the essence of this setting best and proves it as narrator, delivering just the right combination of amazement and aplomb. Nicole Vilencia announces titles within the chapters. Her breathy and resonant voice is reminiscent of a fairy queen…This intergenerational fantasy dazzles with is elegant, lyrical prose. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”

(AudioFile)

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.

Indescribable

What made the experience of listening to Little, Big the most enjoyable?

The writing style of this book is the next best thing to it's story. Good to hear it read by the author: a whole new dimension.

Who was your favorite character and why?

If you read this, you will understand why I can't answer this.

Which character – as performed by John Crowley – was your favorite?

The only character voice Is Violets father.....and appropriate.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

What a lowest-common-denominator question. As with any truly great book, the only answer is.... Yes.

Any additional comments?

Read this.

My Favorite of All Time

I’ve read it several times, and this audio version is enhanced by the author’s narration, a tale told in the storyteller’s own voice. I listen when I want to lose myself in the cozy yet magical world, ordinary but most definitely not. The characters are as dear as friends, and I can picture every detail of the extraordinary house with its star-shaped footprint, accidentally a portal between a fading world and a vividly different one. Every word is a work of art.

Too Beautiful for Words

Shirley's quiet, almost monotone voice coaxes out the deeper earnings of his beautiful, lyrical prose.

Well worth the listen…

It took a while to get into, but as the “tale” came together it was well worth the listen. I’ve already pre ordered a hard copy of the 40th Anniversary reprint so I can reread it as it was meant to be read :D