Tiffany Baker's The Little Giant of Aberdeen County

Truly Plaice, simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary, narrates Baker's debut novel. Truly suffers from a thyroid disorder, causing her rapid weight gain throughout her life - childhood included. Compared to her beautiful and delicate sister in a small town circa 1950, Truly quickly becomes an outcast. Add to her physical woes the fact that her mother died while giving birth to her - she appears to be a source of grief for her family. Her well-intentioned, but undereducated father is ill-equipped to raise two young girls on his own. Truly spends much of her childhood ridiculed for her appearance, sheltered and a misfit. Baker's novel travels through Truly's life, reflecting on her relationship with her sister, her pseudo-family and the world. Told in omniscient first person, which troubled some reviewers, Truly knows details of events without explanation. This technique didn't bother me. I listened to this audiobook at work one week and I found the lyrical language, elements of mysticism and Truly's indignation at the mistreatment of misfits enjoyable. In her adult life, Truly discovers long held secrets in her small town, regarding alternative medicine, clashing strongly with her doctor brother-in-law and his long time medical family.

Truly is an empathetic narrator: she is concerned for the well-being of her family and understands all too well the impatience of the world with those who do not conform. The narrative felt like a southern novel, with its emphasis on family ties and heritage, the small town traditions and gossip and Truly's father's resistance to medicine. The novel is actually set in the northeast, which I repeatedly forgot while listening to the book. This story had a bit of everyday suspense - what happened to Truly's sister, what secrets did her brother-in-law and lifelong friend share, will Truly find happiness, will her nephew be ok without his mother, what is the magic of the quilt Truly finds? And these questions are answered, some rather predictably others with a bit of a twist and while the novel wraps up a bit too neatly for my taste, I enjoyed Truly's story and being along for the ride.

--KER