Twenty-six-inch tall Espiridiona Cenda disembarks in late 19th Century New York with one goal in mind-becoming the city's most successful singer and dancer with her stage name, ''Chiquita: The Living Doll''. This imaginary biography of the real-life woman recreates the adventures and misfortunes of Chiquita, an alluring and independent woman that lived to become one of the highest paid celebrities in the Vaudeville theatres and fairs of her day. The star of fiery romances, owner of a magic talisman, and witness to countless political intrigues, Chiquita comes to life in these pages as an unforgettable literary character-in all her glory, genius, cruelty and charm. Elegant, humorous, and brimming with adventures, the novel is an ambitious fresco of a period that abounded in social transformations and technological miracles, where the mightiest of countries fought for territories, where underground brotherhoods diligently worked to turn the world in to a great Arcadia, and where ''human curiosities'' exerted a strange fascination among the crowds.
