As long as he lived, Philip K. Dick was known for his science fiction novels, including his acclaimed masterpieces such as The Man in the High Castle and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which became the well-known film Blade Runner.
But Dick was also a powerful chronicler of the everyday life of 1950s California, as evidenced by various novellas that have only recently come to light. Mary and the Giant is his best novella, a painful, powerful story that remains as harsh and relevant today as it was when it was written.
Mary Ann Reynolds yearns to escape her constricted Pacific Grove life in California, her oppressive father, and her suffocating existence. Her struggle to find her true self leads her to the California jazz scene, to various older men, and to a reality strange and alluring, reminiscent of Dick's science fiction novels.
Mary and the Giant is an exceptional novella, a very touching story of hope and tragedy, seen through the eyes of a shockingly real young woman.
