Little, Big - Definition and Overview

Little, Big is a novel by John Crowley, published in 1981. It won the World Fantasy Award in 1982.

Little, Big is the epic story of the Drinkwater and Barnable family and their relationship with a mostly unseen world of Faery. In their unique country house (apparently somewhere north of New York City) they are "Protected"—though strange and terrible things may still happen. In "the City", even though Faery may still be close at hand, young Auberon Barnable finds unexpected dangers. Nonetheless the story is largely quiet and slow-moving.

The writing has its roots in poetry and American idiom and blossoms into hints and wordplay. Those who like the book praise its style, while others find it overdecorated. Indeed it is a highly decorated book, broken into short sections that each have a title, full of catchphrases and of allusions to such things as Louis Comfort Tiffany, Frances Yates' studies of Renaissance neoplatonism, Lewis Carroll, medieval historians, Harlem, and Thornton Burgess's children's stories. Editions of the book usually have some ornamentation in the printing.