return to home  
Join   |  Gift   |  Member Login   |  Library Login
BookBrowse Mobile
Follow Us: 
   Summary and Book Reviews

The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb: Summary and book reviews of The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin, plus links to an excerpt from The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb and a biography of Melanie Benjamin.

The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb

The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb
A Novel
by Melanie Benjamin
Hardcover: Jul 2011,
448 pages.
Paperback: Apr 2012,
448 pages.

Publication information
Author Information
Critics' Opinion:   
Readers' Rating:  
About BookBrowse Rankings
Share: 
Buy This Book

BOOK SUMMARY

In her national bestseller Alice I Have Been, Melanie Benjamin imagined the life of the woman who inspired Alice in Wonderland. Now, in this jubilant new novel, Benjamin shines a dazzling spotlight on another fascinating female figure whose story has never fully been told: a woman who became a nineteenth century icon and inspiration - and whose most daunting limitation became her greatest strength.
 
"Never would I allow my size to define me. Instead, I would define it."  

She was only two-foot eight-inches tall, but her legend reaches out to us more than a century later. As a child, Mercy Lavinia "Vinnie" Bump was encouraged to live a life hidden away from the public. Instead, she reached out to the immortal impresario P. T. Barnum, married the tiny superstar General Tom Thumb in the wedding of the century, and transformed into the world's most unexpected celebrity.

Here, in Vinnie's singular and spirited voice, is her amazing adventure - from a showboat "freak" revue where she endured jeering mobs to her fateful meeting with the two men who would change her life: P. T. Barnum and Charles Stratton, AKA Tom Thumb. Their wedding would captivate the nation, preempt coverage of the Civil War, and usher them into the White House and the company of presidents and queens. But Vinnie's fame would also endanger the person she prized most: her similarly-sized sister, Minnie, a gentle soul unable to escape the glare of Vinnie's spotlight.

A barnstorming novel of the Gilded Age, and of a woman's public triumphs and personal tragedies, The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb is the irresistible epic of a heroine who conquered the country with a heart as big as her dreams - and whose story will surely win over yours.
BookBrowse

Benjamin's talent as a writer of historical fiction shines as she unravels Vinnie's autobiography, for there are few, if any, moments that stand out as unrealistic or fictionalized. The plot appears to be very loyal to the reality of Vinnie's life, and it is clear that Benjamin has found a story that is rare and needs few additions to dazzle readers.  (Reviewed by Elizabeth Whitmore Funk).

Full Review Members Only (861 words).

Media Reviews

  Publishers Weekly
"[A] grand story worth the price of admission."

  Library Journal
"Vinnie's first-person narration grabs you from the opening pages... Those interested in 'behind the scenes' of show business will be equally entranced."

  Booklist
"Expect readers everywhere to give a great big hand to the little lady."

Author Blurb Johanna Moran, author of The Wives of Henry Oades
Vinnie Bump is one of the most engaging characters to come along in a while. Nineteenth-century women had few options; Vinnie had fewer yet. Melanie Benjamin renders her deeply human in a no-nonsense Olive Kitteridge sort of way. Readers will not soon forget her. I know I won't.

Author Blurb Sara Gruen, New York Times bestselling author of Ape House and Water for Elephants
By turns heart-rending and thrilling, this big-hearted book recounts a fictionalized life of this most extraordinary of women in prose that is lush and details that are meticulously researched. I loved this book.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated 3 of 5 of 5 by diane
thuy
I think that this book doesn't make sense,because his mother has pregnant for 3 son's and the 4th was little, that only 3 centimeters tall. That is impossible, because yes some people are little, but the man smallest in the world was1m tall,...   Read More

Rated 5 of 5 of 5 by Bonnie
Beautifully written historical fiction
Thirty two inch Vinnie Warren Stratten lived during the most fascinating time in our country's history. This novel takes you through her experiences as a woman who is ahead of her time and determined to be treated with dignity and respect. Ms...   Read More

Mercy Lavinia

Though she led an extraordinary and highly public life, few people today are familiar with the main character of Melanie Benjamin's The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb. Vinnie Warren Bump In 1841, Mercy Lavinia "Vinnie" Warren Bump was born in Middleboro, Massachusetts to a long-time well-respected New England family whose lineage can, in part, be traced back to five Mayflower passengers. The descendants of John Billington, Francis Cooke, Edward Doty, Stephen Hopkins, and Richard Warren intermarried many times over the decades - a fact that may have been the source of Vinnie's genetic disorder.

Mr. & Mrs. Tom Thumb The woman who would become Mrs. Tom Thumb grew to be 32 inches tall and weighed 29 pounds, while her...

Continued...  Beyond the Book (members only)

Readalikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb, try these:


Big Girl Small
by Rachel DeWoskin

A scathingly funny and moving book about dreams and reality, at once light on its feet and unwaveringly serious.

The Girls
by Lori Lansens

Meet Rose and Ruby: sisters, best friends, confidantes, and conjoined twins. When Rose, the bookish sister, sets out to write her autobiography, it inevitably becomes the story of her short but extraordinary life with Ruby, the beautiful one. From their awkward first steps--Ruby's arm curled around Rose's neck, her foreshortened legs...


These are 2 of the 4 readalike suggestions for The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb. Members have full access to all readalikes. If you are a member, please login. To find out more about membership, click here.


Become a Member
Click Here
Editor's Choice
  •  May 23 
  •  May 21 
  •  May 20 
And the Mountains Echoed
Khaled Hosseini

And the Mountains Echoed Jacket

Khaled Hosseini has written a new novel about how we love, how we take care of one another, and how the choices we make resonate through generations
Helga's Diary
Helga Weiss

Helga's Diary Jacket

The remarkable diary of a young girl who survived the Holocaust—appearing in English for the first time.
Fever
Mary Beth Keane

Fever Jacket

A bold, mesmerizing novel about the woman known as "Typhoid Mary," the first known healthy carrier of typhoid fever in the burgeoning metropolis of early twentieth century New York.
Click Here
   Most Recent Blog Entries
Movies Based on Books: Summer 2013 (May - August)
Jewish Young Adult Books That Are Not About The Holocaust
Books to Give This Mother's Day
rss  RSS   rss  subscribe
Recent Reader Reviews
Two Lives by Vikram Seth
Two Lives is a memoir written by international best-selling author, Vikram Seth. In this interesting and engaging book, Seth writes about his great... read more
Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Fowler
Z, the novel about the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is at points charming and; like another reviewer, I kept thinking of the movie, "Midnight... read more
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
Although heavy on the scientific details, which slowed down the story for me (OK, I admit, I was one of those liberal arts majors who skipped out on... read more
RSS RSS feed More...  
Most Viewed This Week
1. Sold
Patricia McCormick
2. Unbroken
Laura Hillenbrand
3. And the Mountains Echoed
Khaled Hosseini
4. A Child Called It
Dave Pelzer
5. Tethered
Amy Mackinnon
More...
Book Club Recommendations
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
by Jeanette Winterson
Paperback (Mar/13)
Eleanor & Park
by Rainbow Rowell
Hardback (Feb/13)
The House Girl
by Tara Conklin
Paperback (Oct/13)
The Painted Girls
by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Hardback (Jan/13)
More...
First Impressions
Members read and review books often months before they're published. See what they think in First Impressions!
The Sisterhood
by Helen Bryan
Four Stars            (Apr/13)
The Last Girl
by Jane Casey
Four Stars            (May/13)
The Caretaker
by A .X. Ahmad
Four Stars            (May/13)
Golden Boy
by Abigail Tarttelin
4.5 Stars            (May/13)
More...
  Latest BookBrowse News
British Parliament asks Amazon to clarify why it pays $9 million in income tax on $23 billion of UK sales. (May 20 2013)
Amazon will be called back to give further evidence to members of the British Parliament "to clarify how its activities in the U.K. justify its low corporate... Full Story
rss RSS feed More...
 
BookBrowse Poll
Q: Which of these Summer movies based on books would you like to see? (Info on each movie here)
The Great Gatsby
Epic
Man of Steel
World War Z
The Lone Ranger
The Wolverine
R.I.P.D.
Percy Jackson
Paranoia
The Mortal Instruments
Select Any That Apply
Search: Title or Author
Free Newsletters
The Light Between Oceans

Online Book Club
More about
The Comfort of Lies
Join the discussion!


Win This Book!
On Sal Mal Lane


"Piercingly intelligent and shatter-your-heart profound."

Enter To Win Now!

wordplay
Solve this clue:
"I Y N P O T Solution, Y P O T P"

and be entered
to win....
frame top
New Author
Interviews
Menna van Praag
Erica Brown
Helga Weiss
Kate Morton
frame bottom
HOME Book Submissions | Advertising | Library Subscriptions | Reviewing for BookBrowse | Contact Us