Preview of Little, Big Summary:

The individual's place in the framework of the larger world and the attendant difficulty of growing up amid complexity and confusion in both family and society are at the heart of Crowley's Little, Big. The novel, a family history spanning five generations, traces the lives and struggles of the descendants of John Drinkwater and Violet Bramble and the parts family members play in a complex centurylong Tale which involves both the Drinkwaters and the fairy world. The novel's title suggests both of the author's themes. Little, Big describes the relationship between small individual lives and the complicated structure of the large world, the Tale made up of many millions of lives. It describes the process of growth, not just in size, but in maturity as well, the often painful movement from innocence to experience.

Crowley presents these themes through a remarkably complex plot that...