Madeleine’s World: A Biography of a Three-Year-Old

The perceptive and beguiling tale of a young girl’s development as only her father can see it

Chosen as one of the 50 Best Nonfiction Books of the Past 25 Years by Slate

Like most biographies, Brian Hall’s charming account of his daughter Madeleine begins at her birth. But unlike most biographies, it concludes with her third birthday. Along the way, it describes Madeleine’s intriguing transition from infant solipsism through toddler self-absorption to a small person’s sociability. Drawing on the same subtle humor and eye for detail that imbued I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company, his acclaimed novel of the Lewis and Clark expedition, Hall gives us a look at Madeleine’s milestones: her first laugh, first words, first tantrum, and brings it all to life from the inside out. By speculating on his daughter’s perceptions and experience as she grows, Hall gives us candid and informed insights into the evolution of language, attachments and separations, and a youngster’s curiosity and fear. What emerges is a portrait of growing consciousness in action, a universal voyage whose every revelation and frustration is captured with stunning detail and intimacy.