Overview

She was only two feet, 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 became a worldwide celebrity. 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.

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<p>Advance praise for The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb <br> Benjamin handles the era of mid-nineteenth-century America like a native, telling a walloping good story about a tiny person with the soul of a giant. The lovely Lavinia Bump once again comes alive, and we're all the richer because of it. --Ellen Bryson, author of The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno <br> 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. --Johanna Moran, author of The Wives of Henry Oades <br> Lavinia Warren was only thirty-two inches tall, but in Melanie Benjamin's The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb she soars above the tumult of Gilded Age America. Benjamin makes her a woman of courage and refinement with an itch for adventure and ambitions that far outst

Advance praise for The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb Benjamin handles the era of mid-nineteenth-century America like a native, telling a walloping good story about a tiny person with the soul of a giant. The lovely Lavinia Bump once again comes alive, and we're all the richer because of it. --Ellen Bryson, author of The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno 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. --Johanna Moran, author of The Wives of Henry Oades Lavinia Warren was only thirty-two inches tall, but in Melanie Benjamin's The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb she soars above the tumult of Gilded Age America. Benjamin makes her a woman of courage and refinement with an itch for adventure and ambitions that far outst 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. --Sara Gruen, New York Times bestselling author of Ape House and Water for Elephants Melanie Benjamin's striking novel about the diminutive Lavinia Warren Bump, one of P.T. Barnum's oddities, shows that love and desire, strength and ambition come in all sizes. Mrs. Tom Thumb brings out the humanity in all of us. --Sandra Dallas, New York Times bestselling author of Prayers for Sale and Whiter Than Snow Melanie Benjamin has created a compelling heroine, whose dramatic and poignant story will capture the reader's heart to the last page. --Stephanie Cowell, author of Claude & Camille: A novel of Monet and Marrying Mozart

Advance praise for The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb Benjamin handles the era of mid-nineteenth-century America like a native, telling a walloping good story about a tiny person with the soul of a giant. The lovely Lavinia Bump once again comes alive, and we're all the richer because of it. --Ellen Bryson, author of The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno 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. --Johanna Moran, author of The Wives of Henry Oades Lavinia Warren was only thirty-two inches tall, but in Melanie Benjamin's The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb she soars above the tumult of Gilded Age America. Benjamin makes her a woman of courage and refinement with an itch for adventure and ambitions that far outst

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