Tiny Wife, Huge Triumph

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a proof copy of Andrew Kaufman's 'The Tiny Wife' a little while ago. And folks, let me tell you, it is absolutely brilliant.

A man robs a bank. But instead of making off with bags of cash he takes one thing from each of the customers there: one thing which holds the most sentimental value.

The bugger gets away with it and disappears with his swag.

And then odd things start to happen to the folks he's stolen from. A woman's lion tattoo becomes an actual lion and chases her all over town. Another lady wakes up to find that she's made of candy. And, amongst others, a man's wife discovers she's shrinking. Those who've read Not So Perfect, or are fans of Aimee Bender or Etgar Keret or Michael Czyzniejewski, will not be surprised that I like it. But I don't just like it - or to be more accurate, LOVE it - for its imagination. It's, in my humble opinion, the perfect modern fable. It's about love, it's about life, it's about problems and it's about seeing the bigger picture. It's about people. It's brilliant. It's told with delightful imagination and it's exactly the right size.

A lot's made of word count these days (your book HAS to be this length or that length, blah blah blah) and, again in my humble, word count doesn't really matter all that much - what matters is that the words count. Stories are as long as they are. And as I say, this story's wonderful. As are the illustrations that accompany it. AND, it's going to be released as a gorgeous hardback. Seriously, what's not to love?

It's out on September 1st and it's published by the magnificent The Friday Project.

Pre-order from Amazon here.

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And talking of 'Not So Perfect' I was rather happy to read this yesterday.