Blog Tour & Review: The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin

Join Melanie Benjamin, author of the historical novel, The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb (Delacorte Press, July 26, 2011), as she virtually tours the blogosphere in August on her second virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book.

About the Book…

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.

About the Author…

Melanie Benjamin is a pseudonym for Melanie Hauser, the author of two contemporary novels. Her first work of historical fiction as Melanie Benjamin was Alice I Have Been. The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb is her second release. She lives in Chicago, where she is at work on her next historical novel.You can visit her online at www.melaniebenjamin.com.

Donna’s Review…

Melanie Benjamin’s new historical novel, The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb, features the inspiring story of a heroic nineteenth century woman, Mercy Lavinia (Vinnie) Warren Bump. Standing only two feet eight inches tall, Vinnie and show man P. T. Barnum, founder of the Ringling Bros.and Barnum & Bailey Circus fabricate an fashionable life.  Vinnie marries another little person, General Tom Thumb, and the couple travels with Barnum around the globe keeping the company of kings, queens and the powerful tycoons of that time.

Benjamin develops the story with careful attention to historic detail and the apparent difficulties of the life of a little, but determined, woman. I was so taken with Vinnie’s story that I conducted online research about Vinnie, Tom Thumb, and P.T. Barnum to verify historical details.  While this book is fictional, it is an accurate account of Vinnie’s inspirational life. Benjamin brought a little known woman to the world’s attention in The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb. I heartily recommend this book.–Reviewed by Donna Landis, special to Backseat Writer.

Remember to visit Pump Up Your Book! to read the first chapter of The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb.

*With thanks to Pump Up Your Book!, Melanie Benjamin, and Delacorte Press for the review copy of this book.*