The Little Shadows

Having been impressed by Good to a Fault I was delighted to discover The Little Shadows on my doorstep one afternoon (Courtesy Allen & Unwin Australia}. The premise was particularity inviting, promising a backstage glimpse at the life of vaudeville performers in the beginning on 1900′s.

Marina Endicott lifts the curtain to reveal Aurora, Clover, Belle and their mother auditioning to join a vaudeville house. The Avery sisters are young and pretty with sweet voices and their mother, once a performer herself, is prepared to lean on old acquaintances to encourage her daughters success. The life of all but the most successful and talented acts is difficult, performers must fight for their place in the line up to assure continued work but at the whim of the manager, or the audience, they can be dismissed and forced to move on. The Avery’s grow up amongst a motley collection of performers, moving from theatre to theatre in search of their big break and the dream of earning $1000 a week. The Little Shadows follows their career from naive teenage girls to seasoned performers as they navigate their way through success and failure, joy and heartbreak.

With a complete lack of irony, what I loved about The Little Shadows is also what made this novel a bit of a slog to read. Endicott obviously spent a lot of time researching vaudeville at the turn of the 20th century, the details of absolutely everything are exquisitely rendered – from the dank, dusty dressing rooms to the intricacies of a slapstick routine and the fine stitching of delicate costumes. The author breathes life into this hidden world with beautiful imagery that illustrates both the setting and the period in which it takes place. I truly admired the author’s ability to so finely create the Avery’s sisters world, but I also felt that at times, all this detail overshadowed both the plot and the characters.

The story centers on the Avery sisters, Aurora, Clover and Belle who are just 16, 14 and 13 respectively, though lying about their ages, at the beginning of the book. The girls mature in this unusual setting where they must behave as adults even though they are still children.

Aurora is the prettiest with the finest voice and is also the most ambitious of the three. Clover is the quietest, an astute observer of the lifestyle and the characters she encounters. Belle, the youngest, has the personality of the performer, she is effervescent, curious and a bit of a dreamer. Despite their general appeal though, I struggled to connect to their characters. Endicott describes how they put on their makeup, labour over their costumes, learn to sing from their diaphragms but she rarely gives access to their inner thoughts. They are swamped some how but what they are rather than who they are.

Similarly, Endicott describes the other inhabitants of the world of vaudeville in detail, stepping us through their various routines or roles but again, rarely shows us what these characters think or feel.

Endicott intends for the story to be driven by character rather than plot but the lack of direction is frustrating at times. Mostly I felt the book moved from one beautifully described scene to another without really going anywhere at all. I assume the intention was to give the story the structure of a vaudeville show but largely the story failed to come to life when the curtain came down, which is when the real action should have happened.

Though the language was lovely and the book well written, I really wanted to be swept away by The Little Shadows, and it is fascinating for its historical detail and unique setting, but for me, it lacked soul.