‘The Little Giant of Aberdeen County’ by Tiffany Baker

  Technically speaking, I guess you could say I killed Robert Morgan, but I did it only because he insisted on it, and because death had clearly already gotten its mealy hands on him, and because I knew the very act of asking must have made him madder than hell.
  “Look at me,” he’d cackle from the foul nest of covers on his bed, “and then take a look at you. It just doesn’t seem right.” I knew what he meant. Let’s just say I had more than my fair share of resources shoring up my bones. “You could live through two winters back to back, Truly,” he rasped. “You could swallow the whole damn world, and no one would notice.”
  Truly Plaice is and always has been a big girl. When Truly’s mother was pregnant with her, the townsfolks placed bets on how much the baby would weigh. “Put me down for eleven-five. Doc Morgan says this kid’s going to be some kind of record. He still can’t believe Lily’s not having twins.”
  And, indeed, Truly was a big baby, a giant even. Her mother dies during childbirth and Truly’s father blames the baby. He finds himself at a loss at how to raise this unusual child or her more normal, more feminine older sister, Serena Jane.
  After their father’s death, Serena Jane is sent to live with a well-off family while Truly moves in with the town’s outcasts, living on a rundown farm but with people whom she comes to love.
  As the girls age and begin attending school, Serena Jane begins to distance herself from her ungainly sister. The older girl’s beauty makes her the center of attention and she becomes an obsession for Bob Bob Morgan, the youngest of the Morgan men who have held the position of town doctor in Aberdeen for decades.
  Truly begins to see that being fair of face has a downside.
  Without beauty, I knew, life’s possibilities might pass me up, but too much loveliness was clearly a liability. It was like a train wreck, pulling in trouble. So in the end, maybe it really was me who was better off, I thought. I was ugly — no one was going to dispute that — but I was also so big that nothing in life was going to slide past me. And if it did, then maybe I was smart enough to let it keep going.
  Serena Jane learns this too, when, in a violent turn of events, Bob Bob takes possession of her life. They marry, have a baby and move, only to return to Aberdeen after Bob Bob completes medical school and is ready to fill his father’s role as town doctor.
  Truly by this time has settled into her role as town freak. Her size separates her from all others, except her foster sister, Amelia, with whom she forms a strong bond.
  Truly frets over how her relationship with Serena Jane will be now, but she doesn’t have long to wonder, as Serena Jane picks up and skips town, leaving Bob Bob to care for their son Bobbie, something he is wholly unprepared to do. Bob Bob manipulates Truly into taking care of Bobbie, and she moves in with the doctor, later discovering he has other motives besides the well-being of his son.
  While living with Bob Bob, Truly unravels a mysterious Morgan family secret, one that gives her the knowledge to help or hurt those who have ridiculed her her entire life. She also uncovers some secrets about her own family, secrets that could set her on a path for revenge.
  Tiffany Baker’s “The Little Giant of Aberdeen County” is a touching story of family, self-preservation and self-acceptance. This debut novel twists and turns, and moves at a quick pace, never lingering long enough for the reader to get bored.
  Baker’s writing is beautiful. Her descriptive style crafts Truly’s emotions into sentences that are hidden treasures.
  I couldn’t shake what she’d said about Serena Jane and me becoming strangers to each other. It was the truth, I knew, but it was like a flea bite — itchy, annoying, so tiny that I would have liked to ignore it but couldn’t. That night, I tossed and thrashed the thought around my mind until it was as addled and whipped up as a batch of butter.
  Baker’s creative descriptions reward readers as they move through Truly’s story. “The Little Giant of Aberdeen County” is a sometimes dark yet delightful discovery, and, for a debut novel, quite an accomplishment.