The Smallest Man by Frances Quinn

The Smallest Man by Frances Quinn

Summary:

My name is Nat Davy. Perhaps you’ve heard of me? There was a time when people up and down the land knew my name, though they only ever knew half the story.
 
The year of 1625, it was, when a single shilling changed my life. That shilling got me taken off to London, where they hid me in a pie, of all things, so I could be given as a gift to the new queen of England.
 
They called me the queen’s dwarf, but I was more than that. I was her friend, when she had no one else, and later on, when the people of England turned against their king, it was me who saved her life. When they turned the world upside down, I was there, right at the heart of it, and this is my story.
 
Inspired by a true story, and spanning two decades that changed England for ever, The Smallest Man is a heartwarming tale about being different, but not letting it hold you back. About being brave enough to take a chance, even if the odds aren’t good. And about how, when everything else is falling apart, true friendship holds people together.

My Review:

The year is 1625 and this is the remarkable story of Nat Davy. Nat is just ten-years-old but he is not like other boys of the same age. The Smallest Man (Simon & Schuster) by Frances Quinn is based on a true story that will span two decades. It is a remarkable story and one that is both fact and fiction.

Nat Davy was born into a family who were poor, but this never stopped Nat being happy but already the truth was becoming real to Nat and his family. Nat is different. Nat Davy is small but not just small, he is actually very small.

When you are different people stop and stare and they talk about you. Nat is our narrator as he tells his remarkable story. Nat’s life is about to change from a world of being shown off in a freak show. For the price of a Shilling he is taken from his family and is whisked off to London for a new life and is presented to the new Queen of England, Queen Henrietta Maria the wife of King Charles I.

He is to become the Queen’s latest pet to go alongside the dogs and also monkeys of court life. Imagine for one moment being a pet to the new Queen?

This is a life far and away from anything that Nat could have envisaged even at the tender age of just Ten. Soon Nat realises that the Queen is lonely and misses her family something incredible happens and the two form a unique bond of friendship.

England is now in the grip of a civil war Nat was about to embark on a journey of a lifetime with the Queen a life away from his home in Oakham. Nat is our hero and a character the reader will get behind and cheer with his triumphs and tragedies. Beautifully crafted and researched by Frances Quinn The Smallest Man is a triumph of a novel.

384 Pages.

Thank you to Jessica Barratt (Simon & Schuster and also Anne Cater (Random Things Tours) for the review copy of The Smallest Man by Frances Quinn.

The Smallest Man by Frances Quinn was published by Simon & Schuster and will be published on 7^th January 2021 and is available to pre-order through Waterstones, Amazon and through your local independent bookshop or through Bookshop.org that supports your local independent bookshop. UK Bookshop.org

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