Hope Springs makes no bones about it: she is a dwarf, which makes her vulnerable. But she’s also indomitable, sharp-witted and able to cope with the world on her own terms. Her adventures take her to Oxford and then out into a society sometimes hostile, sometimes fulfilling. Her sharp humour is her shield, her quick wits her weapon. She quickly makes deep relationships but can fall out of them just as quickly. In the end, does she triumph or does the end of the novel show her failure? Only you the reader can decide. But meanwhile, you’ll find a picaresque narrative which can make you laugh, cry, be soothed and be shocked, sometimes all at the same time.
‘You can never look dignified if you’re like me and I’m glad that I was blissfully unaware that I was probably puffing out my chest with self- importance and looking very silly. A dwarf, the daughter of a clown-dwarf, was going to Oxford. I felt this as more than merely a personal; triumph but at the time I didn’t stop to analyse why. “She swept out of the room, not waiting for a reply or deigning to recognise the look of fear or admiration or something on her old nanny’s face”, I thought as I stomped up to my room.’
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