Little, Big cover art

Little, Big

or, The Fairies' Parliament

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

$8.99/mo after trial ends. Cancel anytime
Try for $0.00
More purchase options

Little, Big

By: John Crowley
Narrated by: John Crowley
Try for $0.00

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $34.92

Buy Now for $34.92

Edgewood - which is not found on any map - is many houses, all put inside each other or across each other. It’s filled with and surrounded by mystery and enchantment; the further in you go, the bigger it gets.

Smoky Barnable, who has fallen in love with Daily Alice Drinkwater, travels from the City on foot to Edgewood, her family home. There he finds himself on the magical border of an otherworld.

Crowley’s work has a special alchemy - mixing the world we know with an imagined world that seems more true and real. Winner of the World Fantasy Award, Little, Big is elegant, sensual, funny, and unforgettable. It is a story of fantastic love and heartrending loss, of impossible things and unshakable destinies, and of the great Tale that envelops us all. It is a wonder.

John Crowley is an American writer who has also worked in television and documentary films. His fantasy and science fiction have established him as a major voice in imaginative writing. His other novels include The Deep, Engine Summer, and Ægypt.

©1981 2010 by John Crowley; Edition 2010 by Ron Drummond (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Fantasy Fiction Romance Heartfelt Funny
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic Reviews

“A book that all by itself calls for a redefinition of fantasy.” (Ursula K. Le Guin)
All stars
Most relevant
Such an elusive, lyrical, writing style. Pure genius. Loved it! Imagined, fairy realms visited!

The True World of Fey

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Lovely relaxing narrator but i lost alot of the story. Plot was complicated but i enjoyed the lyrical writing and the sound of the words.

Confused

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Narrated by the author himself, a deeply satisfying unfolding Tale with mature elements of fantasy and philosophy.

A sprawling fantasy epic worthy of miniseries

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
DNF. After 10+ hours I’m calling it quits. This novel is full of its own self importance and tries to be so much grander than it is. Not for me.

Wants to be much more than it is

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Little, Big is often praised as a dreamy, romantic fairy tale, but the emotional reality underneath is far darker. Smoky isn’t a tender, devoted husband; he’s an adulterer whose betrayals are swallowed by the book’s hazy, hippie moralism. The story treats neglect, infidelity, and emotional abandonment as if they’re part of some whimsical, enchanted destiny — a kind of lyrical fog that excuses real harm.

Women in this novel aren’t partners; they’re symbols, atmospheres, or mythic functions. Men drift through life unaccountable, porous, and fate‑driven, and the prose keeps insisting this is romantic. It’s like calling fairy tales “happy stories” because the language is pretty, while ignoring the violence underneath.

If you read for sovereign love — mutuality, presence, adulthood — Little, Big becomes a case study in how patriarchal storytelling disguises abuse and betrayal as magic. Beautiful sentences, yes. But the emotional architecture is hollow, and the harm is real

Ugly un-love wrapped in hippie moralism

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.