Description:
In 1895, a specialist straps five-year-old Katharine Hathaway, then suffering from spinal tuberculosis, to a board with halters and pulleys in a failed attempt to prevent her from becoming a "hunchback" like the "little locksmith" who does odd jobs at her family's home. Forced to endure her confinement for ten years, Katharine remains immobile until age fifteen, only to find that none of it has prevented her from developing a deformity of her own.
The Little Locksmith charts Katharine's struggle to transcend physical limitations and embrace her life, her body, and herself. Her spirit and courage prevail as she expands her world far beyond the boundaries prescribed by her family and society: she attends Radcliffe College, forms deep friendships, begins to write, and in 1921 purchases a house of her own that she fashions into a space for guests, lovers, and artists. Revealing and inspirational, The Little Locksmith stands as a testimony to Katharine's aspirations and desires--for independence, love, and the pursuit of her art.
Brief description:
Alix Kates Shulman is the award-winning author of over a dozen books of fiction, memoir, biography, essays, and books for children. A lifelong political activist, Alix attended the 1963 March for Equality in Washington, DC, where Martin Luther King, Jr., declared his dream, and joined New York City's first women's liberation group in 1967. She received a Clara Lemlich Award for a lifetime of social activism in 2018.
Review Quotes:
"Katharine Butler Hathaway...was the kind of heroine whose deeds are rarely chronicled...[She took] a life which fate had cast in the mold of a frightful tragedy and redesign[ed] it into a quiet, modest work of art."
-- "New Yorker"