''Little Hands Clapping'', is a novel by British author Dan Rhodes, published in 2010 by

Canongate The Canongate is a street and associated district in central Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. The street forms the main eastern length of the Royal Mile while the district is the main eastern section of Edinburgh's Old Town. David ...

. Its title comes from a line in

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian literature, Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentar ...

's poem ''The Pied Piper of Hamelin''.

Plot introduction

The novel centres around a bizarre German museum dedicated to

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

; 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 Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...

-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

*"Totally sick and brilliant, He sucks you into his world. I loved it."

Douglas Coupland Douglas Coupland (born 30 December 1961) is a Canadian novelist, designer and visual artist. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller '' Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture'', popularized the terms Generation X and McJob. He ...

*"Almost every page of Little Hands Clapping has superb quirks or asides which will have the reader laughing. A sublime, brilliant novel",

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

*"It should please cynical idealists and idealistic cynics alike."

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

References

External links

''Little Hands Clapping'' at author's websiteDan Rhodes's novel about a museum dedicated to suicide is by turns witty and gruesome
review from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''
A mixture of the quaint, the sweet and the distinctly unpleasant
review from ''

'' by

Colin Greenland Colin Greenland (born 17 May 1954) is a British science fiction writer, whose first story won the second prize in a 1982 Faber & Faber competition. His best-known novel is '' Take Back Plenty'' (1990), winner of both major British science ficti ...

review from ''The Independent''"I don't feel like a natural" interview at ''The Skinny''Five books that loomed large while I was writing ''Little Hands Clapping''
2010 British novels British Gothic novels Novels set in Germany Novels about museums Novels set in museums Fiction about suicide Works by Dan Rhodes Canongate Books books {{2010s-gothic-novel-stub