Play Audiobook Sample
The Goddess of Small Victories Audiobook
Play Audiobook Sample
(0.00) - 0 listener ratings
Quick Stats About this Audiobook
Total Audiobook Chapters:
Longest Chapter Length:
Shortest Chapter Length:
Average Chapter Length:
Audiobooks by this Author:
Publisher Description
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.
Download and start listening now!
“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
Quotes
-
“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
-
An Amazon Best Book of the Month, October 2014
The Goddess of Small Victories Listener Reviews
Be the first to write a review about this audiobook!
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 the Narrators
Emily Woo Zeller is an artist, actor, dancer, choreographer, and voice artist who has won Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration in 2018. She began her voice-over career by voicing animation in Asia. AudioFile magazine named her one of the Best Voices of 2013 for her work in Gulp. Other awards include the 2009 Tristen Award for Best Actress as Sally Bowles in Cabaret and the 2006 Roselyn E. Schneider Prize for Creative Achievement.
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.