The Thunder of Giants

The Thunder of Giants by Joel Fishbane.  278 pages

This book tells the story of two extraordinary women, both of whom were almost 8 feet tall. We have Andorra Kelsey in 1937, approached by a Hollywood agent who wants her to star in a movie about another tall woman, Anna Swan.  Anna Swan had toured the world in the 19th century as "The Nova Scotia Giantess."

This story is a blend of fact and fiction, because it is based on real people. The author admits he took some license with some details, but he does include enough to make the characters come to life.  I thought this was an interesting book, but I didn't love it. I kept reading because I was curious, but I didn't particularly like the way the story would go back and forth between the two women; sometimes it was hard to follow their storylines.  I also found some instances of the language to be a little jarring. This was an instance where I could tell the author was a man who was writing female main characters. At times, one of the women would say something or think something and it would just strike me wrong; basically, that women don't speak that way, or use particular words to describe themselves. Overall, the juxtaposition of the two women's stories did make for an interesting read, but I don't think this one's a "must re-read" book for me.

Anna Swan (married name Anna Haining Bates) was a real person, who died in 1888 at the age of 41.  The author of this book did include some factual details about her, such as what she did on stage, and what happened to her children.