I love this book! I remember seeing a picture of Mrs. Tom Thumb, aka Mercy Lavina Warren Bump Stratton aka Vinnie, and wondering about her marriage. Was she happy? This was years ago. Then when I saw this book, I had to know as much as possible.

From the first page I was hooked, even though the book is 412 books long, it galloped along. The more I learned about Vinnie, the more that I wanted to know. I could not stop reading about her adventures, thoughts and feelings. How can I do justice to this book in this review? The best that I can say is “Read It”.

Melanie Benjamin has done an excellent job of pulling together Vinnie’s letters, and information about her from the day that Vinnie was born to forty years before her death. How did a woman only 32 inches tall become known around the world. Vinnie could have very easily stayed at home under her parent’s protection with her younger and even shorter sister, Minnie. We would have never known about this unusually spirited woman if she had. Vinnie turned things around, she took her shortness and made it into a reason that queens and kings and other rulers of state wanted to meet her.

I don’t want to tell what happened to spoil it for you but I can tell you what you will feel. You will be shocked, amazed, excited, confused, enlightened, disappointed, sad, happy, and thrilled. I sound like P.T. Barnum, don’t I? That is because even though Vinnie was a star, P.T. Barnum also was her confidant and had a special relationship with him. P.T. Barnum was such a larger than life figure that the author admits that she had to control him for fear of his taking over the book. But Melanie Benjamin succeeded.

So come see, come read about this tiny, intelligent woman who had a mind of her own in the 19th century, see her break barriers, imagine her wedding, as spectacular and Charles and Diana, well, maybe more spectacular. You won’t always like her but you will still want to know about her. You’ll understand when you read the book.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to be amazed.

I received this book as a part of the Amazon Vine program and that in no way influenced my opinion of this book.