I’m about to contradict myself so here goes: I don’t like fantasies and I don’t read fantasies; however, I have just read a fantasy and I loved it. Myra Malone is a recluse; she spends her days in her mother’s attic with a minuscule mansion - not a doll’s house, as she insists. She constantly redecorates the rooms, collecting and making tiny pieces of furniture. Gwen, Myra’s friend since childhood, has encouraged Myra to blog about the mansion and she has a large, devoted following of people who try to recreate some of her rooms in their own houses, as well as sending Myra miniature pieces of furniture themselves.
The magical mystery element of the story involves Alex, scion of “a respected, blue-blooded family”, whose fortune is in their furniture stores. Alex has come home from China, where he was teaching in a private school, to help his father who has been diagnosed with cancer. He has taken up temporary residence in the family’s mansion; there is a portrait of his paternal grandmother on the wall but he has no real memory of her.
A complicated, utterly fascinating story emerges, moving backward and forward in time and told from differing viewpoints. There was mystery and fantasy but enough realism for me to remain enchanted, which I think is the right word here, through to the lovely ending.
I recommend The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone to admirers of creative, imaginative writing. Simply put, Audrey Burges has a wonderful way with words.
5 out of 5 from me!
Published by Macmillan
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