In The Tsar’s Dwarf, by Peter Fogtdal, Sorine is a middle aged dwarf hired by the court of Danish King Frederick to jump out of a cake to entertain visiting Tsar Peter the Great. The next thing she knows she has been given to the Tsar, a collector of human oddities. In Russia, despite various demeaning situations, she continually asserts her intelligence and wit while retaining her dignity as a human being. Through her eyes we see life at the Russian court, in an Orthodox religious cloister, as a member of the Tsar’s museum of human curiosities and in the family of a wealthy Polish merchant. Elegant crystalline prose creates a multi-layered narrative as we follow Sorine on her journey. She is a captivating spit-fire of a woman, forging a life for herself in a hostile world. ~ Gretchen Echols

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