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Little Hands Clapping

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Little Hands Clapping
First edition cover
(with quote from Douglas Coupland)
AuthorDan Rhodes
Cover artistDavid Roberts
LanguageEnglish
PublisherCanongate Books
Publication date
4 February 2010
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint & eBook
Pages320
ISBN1-84767-529-8

Little Hands Clapping, is a novel by British author Dan Rhodes, published in 2010 by Canongate. Its title comes from a line in Robert Browning's poem The Pied Piper of Hamelin.

Plot introduction

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The novel centres around a bizarre German museum dedicated to suicide; Herr Schmidt, its grim grey curator; and the respectable Doctor Ernst Frölicher and his shocking secret.

Various characters appear with short lifestories including the Luciano Pavarotti-obsessed founder of the museum and her Pavarotti-lookalike husband, Hulda the cleaner who believes she is doomed to Hell, and Madalena the suicidal Portuguese student.

Reception

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  • "Totally sick and brilliant, He sucks you into his world. I loved it." Douglas Coupland[1]
  • "Almost every page of Little Hands Clapping has superb quirks or asides which will have the reader laughing. A sublime, brilliant novel", The Scotsman[2]
  • "It should please cynical idealists and idealistic cynics alike." Financial Times[3]

References

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  1. ^ Cover quote
  2. ^ "Little Hands Clapping". 5 January 2010.
  3. ^ Turpin, Adrian (7 February 2010). "Little Hands Clapping". Financial Times. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
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