Review: Tiny Little Thing by Beatriz Williams

Tiny Little Thing by Beatriz Williams

Expected Publication: June 23, 2015

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons

Format: via publisher

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

In the summer of 1966, Christina Hardcastle—“Tiny” to her illustrious family—stands on the brink of a breathtaking future. Of the three Schuyler sisters, she’s the one raised to marry a man destined for leadership, and with her elegance and impeccable style, she presents a perfect camera-ready image in the dawning age of television politics. Together she and her husband, Frank, make the ultimate power couple: intelligent, rich, and impossibly attractive. It seems nothing can stop Frank from rising to national office, and he’s got his sights set on a senate seat in November.

But as the season gets underway at the family estate on Cape Cod, three unwelcome visitors appear in Tiny’s perfect life: her volatile sister Pepper, an envelope containing incriminating photographs, and the intimidating figure of Frank’s cousin Vietnam-war hero Caspian, who knows more about Tiny’s rich inner life than anyone else. As she struggles to maintain the glossy façade on which the Hardcastle family’s ambitions are built, Tiny begins to suspect that Frank is hiding a reckless entanglement of his own…one that may unravel both her own ordered life and her husband’s promising career.

My Thoughts

Simply put I LOVED THIS! I have been a fan of Beatriz Williams ever since I read A Hundred Summers and this new book didn’t disappoint. As a lover of all things 60’s this book had me from the very beginning. This is the story of Christina “Tiny” Hardcastle and we get a glimpse into her life told to us alternating between the years 1964 and 1966. We met her right before she is to marry Frank but falls in love with Caspian weeks before she is to marry. She struggles in wanting to follow her heart or doing what is expected of her. If she marries Frank she is guarantee a life of leisure to a man who is a rising star in political circles or wait for Caspian to come back from war. She is torn but just as she makes up her mind she finds out that Caspian is Frank’s cousin and thinks she was set up.

We soon learn she choose Frank but always wonders if she made the right decision. She believes Frank is constantly cheating on her and the stress of it all is taking its toll. Caspian soon returns and his presence only makes things that much more difficult. She soon discovers her past is about to be exposed and she is being blackmailed. Tiny has always done what others wanted her to do and now all she wants is to finally live a life she wants. Topping it all off she discovers her husband’s secret and as much as it hurts her she thinks maybe this is her way out. I love how Tiny is so much stronger than she gives herself credit for. While many would’ve loved her life she soon discovers that money and a privileged life isn’t something that will truly fulfill her, she wants real love and won’t settle for anything less. I love the alternating stories because I feel that we see the real Tiny and the Tiny that her in-laws have groomed her to be. Most importantly we see how much she has grown in only a matter of years.

Beatriz Williams paints the most interesting characters I have read in ages. She has single handily made me a lover of historical fiction and for that I want to thank her. Tiny Little Thing will keep you captivate from page one and I highly recommend this as the perfect beach read. This is the second book focusing on the Schuyler sisters. The first The Secret Life of Violet Grant is about Vivian and her next novel Along the Infinite Sea features Pepper. I for one can’t wait!