The Thunder of Giants: A Novel

by Joel Fishbane

Overview

The year is 1937 and Andorra Kelsey - 7'11 and just over 320 pounds - is on her way to Hollywood to become a star. Hoping to escape both poverty and the ghost of her dead husband, she accepts an offer from the wily Rutherford Simone to star in a movie about the life of Anna Swan, the Nova Scotia giantess who toured the world in the 19th century.

Told in parallel, Anna Swan's story unfurls. While Andorra is seen as a disgrace by an embarrassed family, Anna Swan is quickly celebrated for her unique size. Drawn to New York, Anna becomes a famed attraction at P.T. Barnum's American Museum even as she falls in love with Gavin Clarke, a veteran of the Civil War. Quickly disenchanted with a life of fame, Anna struggles to prove to Gavin - and the world - that she is more than the sum of her measurements.Both meticulously researched and resounding with the force of myth, Joel Fishbane's The Thunder of Giants blends fact and fiction in a sweeping narrative that spans nearly a hundred years. Against the backdrop of epic events, two extraordinary women become reluctant celebrities in the hopes of surviving a world too small to contain them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781466851801
Publisher:	St. Martin's Press
Publication date:	04/14/2015
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	376,811
File size:	828 KB

About the Author

JOEL FISHBANE, author of The Thunder of Giants, is a novelist, playwright, sous-chef, actor, trivia host, amateur boxer, occasional clarinet player and general man about town. His various plays, short stories, articles, critiques and literary musings have been published, performed, honored, and otherwise applauded in Canada, the United States and Europe. He lives in Toronto and almost always wears a hat.

Editorial Reviews

"Take equal parts Peter Carey, Michael Chabon and Erin Morgenstern, throw them in a blender, and serve in a glass with a seven-foot, five-and-a-half-inch Krazy Straw. The colossally entertaining result is Joel Fishbane's the thunder of giants." –Myla Goldberg, New York Times bestselling author of Bee Season and The False Friend

"What an exuberant, double-stranded celebration of the extraordinary. In Anna and Andorra, Fishbane has conjured wonders indeed."—Stacy Carlson, author of Among the Wonderful

"As it turns out, the biggest thing about these amazing women is their hearts." —Booklist

From the Publisher

"What an exuberant, double-stranded celebration of the extraordinary. In Anna and Andorra, Fishbane has conjured wonders indeed."

author of Among the Wonderful Stacy Carlson

04/01/2015
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

Library Journal