
"The year is 1937 and Andorra Kelsey - 7'11 and just under 320 pounds - is on her way to Hollywood to become a star. Hoping to escape both poverty and the ghost of her dead husband, she accepts an offer from the wily Rutherford Simone to star in a movie about the life of Anna Swan, the Nova Scotia giantess who toured the world in the 19th century.In parallel narrative, Anna Swan's story unfurls. Where Andorra is seen as a disgrace by an embarrassed family, Anna Swan is quickly celebrated for her unique size. Drawn to New York, Anna becomes a famed attraction at P.T. Barnum's American Museum even as she falls in love with Gavin Clarke, a veteran of the Civil War. Quickly disenchanted with a life of fame, Anna struggles to prove to Gavin - and the world - that she is more than the sum of her measurements.Both meticulously researched and resounding with the force of myth, The Thunder of Giants blends fact and fiction in a sweeping narrative that spans nearly a hundred years. Against the backdrop of epic events, two extraordinary women become reluctant celebrities in the hopes of surviving a world too small to contain them. "--
Publisher:
New York : St. Martin's Press, ©2015.
ISBN:
9781250050847
Characteristics:
vi, 278 pages ;,22 cm.


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Add a CommentThe story DOES jump back and forth a lot. This will be a book you need to stick with and not set down too long. It fanned my interest in the circus something awful! I had to make a trip to the Circus Museum in French Lick, IN :) Sure was glad I did, the dioramas are the best I have seen in my travels. Right up there with Gettysburg's cyclorama (the one they had in 2003). I love it when one book leads you to so much more!
This was a wonderful book. I enjoy historical what ifs? And how writers imbue voices to larger than life people of the past. At times I got a little confused when the story jumped back and forth between Andorra and Anna Swan, but it wasn't a big issue.