The Tiny One

One of the best books I have read this year! The Tiny One captures so well the heart of a young girl, the book could have been written by a child. Minot has a keen eye for the inner depths of a child's wisdom. The book is not so much about the death of this poor girl's Mum, but about the loving memories she has shared with her that have shaped her heart and soul. Conversations between young Via and her Mum are so tangible you feel as though you have witnessed them. You grow in just a few pages to appreciate and love the relationship between mother and child, making the knowledge that Mum is gone that much more heartbreaking. This book does not allow you to be a bystander. You must participate in the relationship forged through chapters of bonding between Mum and Via. They are so much the essence of love, that when Via finally accepts her Mums death, she knows her Mum is still with her, in little fragments and sparkles. Minot is incredibly accurate in depicting the heart of a child, and the voice of Via is a loud, strong, memorable force. The relationship Via had with her Mum is a strong memory in all readers minds, helping to keep her alive.

What a great read... evokes all the feelings that a book about an eight year old losing her mother should evoke, but without the morbidity. Great characterizations-I fell in the love with the whole family. The narrative is from the viewpoint of the child, Via, as she relives the memories of the day that her mother was killed in a car accident. Within the memories of that single day are "stream of consciousness" type thoughts of events and impressions from her earlier childhood. It was engrossing enough that I wanted to read it during one sitting... and I'll definitely be reading it again.

Eliza Minot has given us another literary child to love. In this remarkable debut novel Via Revere comes to life as she plumbs the depths of her eight year old consciousness in an attempt to hold on to her mother who has just died in a car accident. Through her eyes we meet a large, boisterous, wonderful, yet imperfect family as they exist before and immediately after the catastrophe. Via, a remarkably bright, perceptive and articulate individual is still a child, but by novel's end , a very experienced one. Although the subject matter is heart wrenching, the joy in Via's vision sustains us.

An incredibly simple, honest book about mother/daughter love, hope after death, childhood wonders and fears. Via is real - so real with Minot's clear pictures, I went back to grade school and childhood family life with her. Beautifully written, compelling, crystal clear and honest, it's an amazing first novel.

Eliza Minot is a wonderfully sensitive and talented new writer. Her story of an intelligent seven year old, reflecting on the loss of her mother, has no false note, or even a tinge of patronising sentiment. She tells the story straight, and with a very clear eye. Her heroine is a child of character and humor. And you know from the start that she will grow to be a superior woman, like her mother.