The Thunder of Giants

February 15, 2015
Everything about Andorra Kelsey is big, and her Depression-era story is no exception. At nearly eight feet tall, the woman known in Detroit as the Giant of Elsa Street, is looking for a way to escape when a Hollywood scout offers her a role in a picture. The movie is about Anna Swan, another giant from a generation earlier, whose stature gained her fame in P. T. Barnum's American Museum in New York. As the two stories unfold, numerous similarities surface in this witty and earnest work of historical fiction. While Andorra is an invented character, Swan was very real, born to a farming family in Nova Scotia in the mid-nineteenth century. Fishbane deftly draws out the difficulty these women face in finding the right fit, whether it's with a suitable suitor or a piece of furniture. Although their personalities seem cut from the same cloth, they are differentiated enough by their adventures through wars, disaster, and redemption. As it turns out, the biggest thing about these amazing women is their hearts.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

April 1, 2015

Toronto native Fishbane, an accomplished playwright, short story author, and now novelist, offers a lighthearted, engaging work of historical fiction about Anna Swan, who was born in a log cabin in Canada in 1846 and grew to be 7' 5" tall. Swan became known as "The Giantess of Nova Scotia" and was a featured celebrity at P.T. Barnum's New York museum while also touring as part of Barnum's "Human Marvels" traveling show. Fishbane renders this rather sensationalist story with gentle humor and warm humanity, handling Swan's relationships with family members, the curious public, and romantic partners with considerable compassion and sympathy. Interwoven with the woman's story is the complementary story of Andorra Kelsey, also very tall (7' 11"), who was brought to Hollywood in 1937 to star in a movie about Swan. This double narrative allows Fishbane to generate some intriguing comparisons and parallels in the lives of these extraordinary women, each having very different experiences with their families and loved ones. VERDICT A genial, appealing celebration of two strong, independent women; recommended for fans of historical fiction. [See Prepub Alert, 10/27/14.]--Patrick Sullivan, Manchester Community Coll., CT

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2014

In 1937, Andorra Kelsey heads to Hollywood to make a film about Anna Swan, who made a name for herself as part of P.T. Barnum's American Museum in New York. No surprise there: like Anna, Andorra is nearly eight feet tall. Anna's poignant story of falling in love and wanting to be seen as simply human mirrors Andorra's own. In-house excitement, and Myla Goldberg called it "equal parts Peter Carey, Michael Chabon, and Erin Morgenstern."

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.