- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Hutchinson (2 Feb 2012)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0091944023
- ISBN-13: 978-0091944025
- Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
The Little Shadows
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Product Description
Review
"A vivid coming of age tale about the beautiful Avery sisters, thrust on the vaudeville stage after their father's death. Set in early 20th-century Canada, it catapults the reader into the beating heart of the travelling theatrical world - the smell of the greasepaint, heat of the spotlights, and high-wire adrenaline are near-tangible. Thrilling and moving this is a glittering jewel of a novel."--Easy Living
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Book Description
Little Women meets Water for Elephants in this fabulous novel
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
This is a mammoth novel about three sisters, Aurora, Clover and Bella and their mother Flora, on the vaudeville circuit from 1912 until we leave them in 1917. Flora was living as a housewife with her schoolteacher husband, but after the death of both him and her young son, she has decided to take her girls on the road. The book begins with the young girls auditioning in a theatre when Aurora is just 16 and the youngest, Bella, only 13. There are jobs cancelled, hopes raised only to be dashed, working for experience with no pay, living in rented rooms and boarding houses, the cold and scraping by on bowls of bread and milk. This is, in other words, no glamorous world - although you do get the sense that once the girls feet hit the boards they are off and flying in the lights, and the once empty and cold theatre becomes otherwise for them. In that sense, you do feel that however hard the life is, the sisters would not really wish for any other means of existence.
The novel shows their first fumbling loves, the betrayals and the ups and downs they face. Men do not often seem to offer the girls much - even initial hopes of security and stability seem to be little more than the sham of a vaudeville stage set. A man's temper, his whims and his way of ordering the girls about are often resented and the girls a unit that is hard to break. In this Canadian wildness it seems always to be winter and there was so much snow I felt myself shivering in places! The outside does intrude, but slowly, and WWI suddenly impacts on the girls and those around them.
The author has obviously done immense research for the novel and it is full of great detail, ufortunately sometimes too much and the book did begin to drag at the end. I do feel a good editor could have helped and it might have been a better read if the storyline had been a little tighter. I did enjoy the novel very much though, especially the first half, and the characters the author created were, in places, wonderful.
The novel shows their first fumbling loves, the betrayals and the ups and downs they face. Men do not often seem to offer the girls much - even initial hopes of security and stability seem to be little more than the sham of a vaudeville stage set. A man's temper, his whims and his way of ordering the girls about are often resented and the girls a unit that is hard to break. In this Canadian wildness it seems always to be winter and there was so much snow I felt myself shivering in places! The outside does intrude, but slowly, and WWI suddenly impacts on the girls and those around them.
The author has obviously done immense research for the novel and it is full of great detail, ufortunately sometimes too much and the book did begin to drag at the end. I do feel a good editor could have helped and it might have been a better read if the storyline had been a little tighter. I did enjoy the novel very much though, especially the first half, and the characters the author created were, in places, wonderful.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Clearly captivated by the world of vaudeville, Marina Endicott painstakingly recreates its life around the time of The Great War. For five years we share the trials and tribulations of Mama and the three Avery sisters as they tour the circuits - the exhaustion, poverty, hopes, disappointments, triumphs.
This is no glamorised portrayal, we left in no doubt about the hardships endured - the varying quality of boarding houses, theatres, fellow entertainers and impresarios - some not to be trusted. Weather can also be an enemy - snow keeping audiences away, torrential rain causing a theatre roof to collapse. Particularly sad are those acts performed by the disillusioned, resigned to delivering an ever-diminishing best. No matter the drawbacks, something spurs the others on. The novel is a celebration of that determination to succeed.
An ideal read for those with the theatre in their blood, especially if they enjoy a leisurely wallow? The writer is so in love with her material, she tends often to linger en route. For others the novel's resulting length (500+ pages) may prove rather daunting.
To be honest, I longed for greater pace and failed to become as involved as hoped. Pleasures tended to be incidental. Especially appealing was that account of Victor's act - a surreal delight with considerable charm.
Overall, this novel was not quite for me but I can appreciate how many may savour every moment.
This is no glamorised portrayal, we left in no doubt about the hardships endured - the varying quality of boarding houses, theatres, fellow entertainers and impresarios - some not to be trusted. Weather can also be an enemy - snow keeping audiences away, torrential rain causing a theatre roof to collapse. Particularly sad are those acts performed by the disillusioned, resigned to delivering an ever-diminishing best. No matter the drawbacks, something spurs the others on. The novel is a celebration of that determination to succeed.
An ideal read for those with the theatre in their blood, especially if they enjoy a leisurely wallow? The writer is so in love with her material, she tends often to linger en route. For others the novel's resulting length (500+ pages) may prove rather daunting.
To be honest, I longed for greater pace and failed to become as involved as hoped. Pleasures tended to be incidental. Especially appealing was that account of Victor's act - a surreal delight with considerable charm.
Overall, this novel was not quite for me but I can appreciate how many may savour every moment.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Marina Endicott here gives us a peek into the world of vaudeville, although this is fiction quite a few of the events, songs and joke routines are taken from real life. After Flora's son and husband have died she takes her three daughters, Aurora aged 16, Amelia a.k.a Clover aged 15, and Arabella a.k.a Bella aged 13 onto the circuit as a singing group. Lying about their ages, and herself coming across old acquaintances from when she trod the boards, this is a story that is easy to get into.
Following the family between 1912-1917 they have good as well as bad times. Will they make their dream of reaching the big time come true, or will other things get in the way? Taking life as it comes the girls help and get involved with others in their acts, and of course love rears its head on more than one occasion. As the family is Canadian of course there is also the worries when friends go off to do their duty in the First World War.
Life is never easy when you tread the boards and this book portrays that, and the hardships that this can cause. In work one week, dropped the next it is through luck and the help of friends at times to get a booking, and the constant travelling to separate bookings itself can be a drudge. Because the author has researched the vaudeville well we do get a feeling of what it was like, and the things that could and did go wrong, as well as what some girls had to do to get bookings. This is well written and an enjoyable read that should keep you entertained for some time.
Following the family between 1912-1917 they have good as well as bad times. Will they make their dream of reaching the big time come true, or will other things get in the way? Taking life as it comes the girls help and get involved with others in their acts, and of course love rears its head on more than one occasion. As the family is Canadian of course there is also the worries when friends go off to do their duty in the First World War.
Life is never easy when you tread the boards and this book portrays that, and the hardships that this can cause. In work one week, dropped the next it is through luck and the help of friends at times to get a booking, and the constant travelling to separate bookings itself can be a drudge. Because the author has researched the vaudeville well we do get a feeling of what it was like, and the things that could and did go wrong, as well as what some girls had to do to get bookings. This is well written and an enjoyable read that should keep you entertained for some time.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Tiresome story filled with excruciating detail
Set on the Canadian vaudeville circuit between 1911-1917, this almost feels more like a documenting of vaudeville acts rather than a novel. Read more
Published 18 days ago by Roman Clodia
a mighty tome; an invitation to vaudeville
As the author says in her acknowledgements: " This is a book about vaudeville. Everything in it is stolen,juggled, stitched together backwards and upside down, shined up and sent... Read more
Published 18 days ago by David Spanswick
Hated it
Didn't like this book , found it boring , and covers the ground that other writers have covered. Really not much else to say.
Published 29 days ago by Mrs. T. SALMON
You've just got to love Vaudeville
In order to get the full benefit of this detailed, rich novel you need to be one of those people who relish tales of life on stage: the smell of the greasepaint, the roar of the... Read more
Published 2 months ago by S. Zigmond
soporific
This book sounded right up my street, set in the world of vaudeville, Canada at the turn of the century, three sisters and their mother travel around looking for work, with the... Read more
Published 2 months ago by murmuration
You Really Should Step into the World of Vaudeville ...
What a wonderful story!
It began Canada, to a cold, snowy day in 1912. Flora Avery took her three daughters - Aurora, Clover and Bella - to an audition. Read more
It began Canada, to a cold, snowy day in 1912. Flora Avery took her three daughters - Aurora, Clover and Bella - to an audition. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Fleur Fisher
The Wonderful World of Vaudeville
The year is 1912 and after the death of their father and baby brother the three Avery sisters, Aurora, Clover and Bella hit the road with their mother to start their career as... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Marleen
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