Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Oct 2014
464 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Information
Princeton University, 1980. A young and unambitious librarian named Anna Roth is assigned the task of retrieving the records of Kurt Gödel - the most fascinating and hermetic mathematician of the 20th century. Her mission consists of befriending and ultimately taming the great man's widow, Adele, a notoriously bitter woman set on taking belated revenge against the establishment by refusing to hand over these documents of immeasurable historical value.
But as Anna soon finds out, Adele has a story of her own to tell. Through descriptions of Princeton and Vienna after the war, the occupation of Austria by the Nazis, the pressures of McCarthyism, the end of the positivist ideal, and the advent of nuclear weapons, Anna discovers firsthand the epic story of a genius who could never quite find his place in the world, and the private torment of the woman who loved him.
"Painstakingly researched, seamlessly translated, this is historical fiction of exceptional daring." - Booklist
Grannec depicts the life of historical mathematical prodigy Kurt Gödel and his mismatched but devoted wife, Adele, in this overly earnest debut. … More off-putting, though, is the afterword's admission that the novel's premise - Adele's reluctance to part with Kurt's papers - is utterly untrue." - Publishers Weekly
"An intellectually challenging...deconstruction of the notion of 'the great man.'" - Kirkus
"While some of the mathematical discussions are hard to follow, the book offers insight into a little-known historical figure, as well as a portrait of Kurt's close friend, Albert Einstein." - Library Journal
"A model of novelistic efficiency which intelligently combines history, theorems, passion, and flamingos." - Lire
"Suffice it to say that The Goddess of Small Victories is an astonishing novel." - Le Point
"A first novel as ambitious as it is accessible." - Le Soir
"The Goddess of Small Victories is a pitch perfect comedy of manners set on an intellectual Mt. Olympus in mid-20th century New Jersey...Yannick Grannec's portrait of the marriage-of-opposites at the heart of the novel is pure genius." - Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind
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