The Goddess of Small Victories, Yannick Grannec
The Goddess of Small Victories, Yannick Grannec
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The Goddess of Small Victories

Author: Yannick Grannec, Willard Wood

Narrator: Emily Woo Zeller, Dawn Harvey

Unabridged: 13 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/14/2014

Synopsis

Princeton University, 1980. A young and unambitious librarian named Anna Roth is assigned the task of retrieving the records of Kurt Gödel—the most fascinating and hermetic mathematician of the twentieth century. Her mission consists of befriending and ultimately taming the great man's widow, Adele, a notoriously bitter woman set on taking belated revenge against the establishment by refusing to hand over these documents of immeasurable historical value.But as Anna soon finds out, Adele has a story of her own to tell. Through descriptions of Princeton and Vienna after the war, the occupation of Austria by the Nazis, the pressures of McCarthyism, the end of the positivist ideal, and the advent of nuclear weapons, Anna discovers firsthand the epic story of a genius who could never quite find his place in the world—and the private torment of the woman who loved him.

About Yannick Grannec

Yannick Grannec is a graphic designer and illustrator. After obtaining a degree in the sciences, she began studying art and joined Les Ateliers in Paris, where she received a degree in design. A freelance art director, professor of fine arts in Reims, and enthusiast of mathematics, she lives in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France.

About Willard Wood

Willard Wood has translated more than twenty-five books from the French. He is a recipient of the Lewis Galantière Award for Literary Translation and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Translation.

About Emily Woo Zeller

Emily Woo Zeller is an Audie and Earphones Award–winning narrator, voice-over artist, actor, dancer, and choreographer. AudioFile magazine named her one of the Best Voices of 2013. Her voice-over career includes work in animated film and television in Southeast Asia.

About Dawn Harvey

Dawn Harvey has been performing for as long as she has been able to walk and talk and sing. She was already a stage and film actress when she began her voice-over career and now is an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Barbara (NOT RECEIVING NOTIFICATIONS!)

Kurt Gödel: never heard of him before this delightful book. Yannick Grannec writes an entertaining novel about the history of science from 1928 to the late 1970’s. Kurt Gödel was a mathematical genius, a great friend of Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, and Oskar Morgenstern. He lived through the......more

Goodreads review by Melanie

A novel with two parallel storylines ought to be in a state of dynamic equilibrium, with forces from both narratives balancing and advancing each other. The Goddess of Small Victories does not achieve that balance. Adele Gödel, the goddess, relates the small victories,the daily balancing acts she pe......more

Goodreads review by Judy

Another great read for The Tiny Book Club! What is it like to be the wife of a genius? Not that great. Adele Porkert was working at a cabaret and living with her parents in Vienna. In 1928, she was beautiful and in her early 20s. Early one morning walking home from work she noticed a man walking slo......more

Goodreads review by Jessica

The first half of this book gets 4 stars from me. A really interesting portrait of the kind of woman we don't really have in our society anymore. Adele Godel marries a mathematical genius and spends her life caring for him despite his fragile mental and physical health. Anna Roth is a young woman of......more

Quotes

“The Goddess of Small Victories is a pitch-perfect comedy of manners set on an intellectual Mt. Olympus in mid-twentieth-century New Jersey. Albert, Oskar, Oppie, Johnny, and Kurt are the reigning deities. Mathematical gossip and conspiracy theories are served up with birdbath-sized martinis and three-inch steaks. Domestic relations appear to be governed by Godel‘s Incompleteness Theorem. Yannick Grannec‘s portrait of the marriage-of-opposites at the heart of the novel is pure genius.” Sylvia Nasar, National Book Critics Circle Award–winning author

“A fascinating portrait of a marriage…tracing the Gödels’ tumultuous past and the sad decline of a brilliant mind.“ New York Times 

“An important meditation on those forgotten by history…A fascinating read.” Huffington Post

“A model of novelistic efficiency which intelligently combines history, theorems, passion, and flamingos.” Lire (France)

“Suffice it to say that The Goddess of Small Victories is an astonishing novel.” Le Point (Paris)

“A first novel as ambitious as it is accessible.” Le Soir (Brussels)

“Breathtaking.” Livres Hebdo (France)

“Painstakingly researched, seamlessly translated, this is historical fiction of exceptional daring.” Booklist (starred review)

“In French author Grannec’s first novel, which focuses on real-life couple Kurt and Adele Gödel, love is more powerful than anything, from family disapproval to mental illness…The book offers insight into a little-known historical figure, as well as a portrait of Kurt’s close friend, Albert Einstein. And Adele, who always lived in her husband’s shadow, rightfully takes center stage, with readers marveling at how love can survive when it receives no nourishment.” Library Journal

Awards

  • Amazon Best Book of the Month
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