The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb (2011) By Melanie Benjamin

Lavinia Warren Bump, a.k.a. “Vinnie” or, as she was better known, Mrs. Tom Thumb, started to write her autobiography several times, but never got around to completing it before her death in 1919.  Her attempts were always thwarted by a desire to leave out unpleasant details, and there had been a lot of unpleasant details.   Nearly a century later, author Melanie Benjamin picked up Vinnie’s notes, undertook some great research, and filled in those details.  The result is a fun novel titled The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb. 

Now before you dismiss the notion of this book, consider this:  we are talking about a real life person, who while little in stature, was huge in life.  She was a trusted colleague of P.T. Barnum, and dined with several Presidents, the Vanderbilts, the Astors, and even Queen Victoria.  Her tours, before and after her marriage to General Tom Thumb (perhaps one of the first living show business celebrities who could truly be considered world famous) spanned such historical times and settings as the Mississippi River towns of the Mark Twain era, the advent of the abolitionist movement and the full extent of the Civil War, entertaining for pre-General pre-President Ulysses Grant & his wife at their Galena home, being two of the earliest  passengers  on the transcontinental railroad, attempted stage coach robberies, and a World Tour that included London, Paris, Japan, Australia while it was still a backwater colony, Siam (Thailand), India and the Pyramids.   

Each chapter of the book begins with news clippings (Thomas Edison’s first lighted Christmas Tree for instance) that mark the year.  Better yet, with its in-depth and compelling personal history, combined with author Melanie Benjamin’s style of writing, it is an absolutely engaging book.  Great summer read.