Little, Big
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Cover of first edition
(Bantam Books, paperback) |
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| Author | John Crowley |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publisher | Bantam Books |
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Publication date
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August 1981 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback) |
| Pages | 538 pp |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 7596266 |
| 813/.54 19 | |
| LC Class | PS3553.R597 L5 |
Little, Big: or, The Fairies' Parliament is a modern fantasy novel by John Crowley, published in 1981. It won the World Fantasy Award in 1982.
Little, Big is the epic story of the Drinkwater family and their relationship with the mostly obscured world of Fairy. It is set in and around their eccentric country house, called Edgewood, somewhere north of "the City" (implied to be New York). The story is dreamlike, quiet, and meandering, spanning a hundred years of the intertwined family trees of the Drinkwaters and their relations—from the turn of the twentieth century to a sparsely-described dystopian future America ruled by a sinister despot. The magical elements are subtle rather than overt, with only occasional glimpses of the fairies themselves, although their presence is felt throughout.
Turn of the century architect John Drinkwater begins to suspect that within this world there lies another (and beyond that, another and another ad infinitum, each larger than the world that contains it). Towards the centre is the realm of Faerie. Every time a generation or epoch moves deeper within these realms, another follows behind them, entering the realm they have vacated.
Drinkwater gathered his thoughts into an ever evolving series of books entitled “The Architecture of Country Houses”, although few readers grasped the point he was trying to convey.
Somewhere around the start of the 20th century, Drinkwater designed and built a house called Edgewood. It is later revealed that this house is a door through to the outer realm of Faerie. Edgewood is a composite of many different houses and architectural styles, each built over and across the others. It has the effect of disorienting visitors and protecting the family.
The beginning of the story joins a later generation of the Drinkwater family as they prepare for the marriage between their daughter Daily Alice and a stranger, Smoky Barnable. Alice has only briefly met Smoky during a prior trip to the City (a thinly disguised Manhattan). In the past, Alice and her sister Sophie claimed to see fairies when they were younger, although it is unclear whether this actually happened or if it was part of an ongoing game they call the Tale (it later transpires that the Tale is the living history of Faerie and the Drinkwater family’s connection to it).
The family ages and grows and Alice and Smoky have three daughters Tacey, Lily and Lucy and a son, Auberon. Alice’s sister Sophie also gives birth to a daughter, Lilac, who might or might not be Smoky’s illegitimate daughter. Sophie has inherited the gift of foresight from her Great Aunt Cloud, through an ancient and incomplete set of tarot cards. The family regularly consult them in order to find out about the such mundane matters as the weather or how soon a visitor will be arriving at the house.
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Wikipedia