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Little Bits of Baby
No one knew why Robin abandoned a brilliant university career to start a new life at an eccentric island monastery, but it was thought to have something to do with the surprise engagement of Candida, Robin's childhood playmate and Jake, their mutual friend.
309 pages, Paperback
First published May 28, 1989
18 people are currently reading
183 people want to read
About the author
Patrick Gale
42 books712 followersPatrick was born on 31 January 1962 on the Isle of Wight, where his father was prison governor at Camp Hill, as his grandfather had been at nearby Parkhurst. He was the youngest of four; one sister, two brothers, spread over ten years. The family moved to London, where his father ran Wandsworth Prison, then to Winchester. At eight Patrick began boarding as a Winchester College Quirister at the cathedral choir school, Pilgrim's. At thirteen he went on to Winchester College. He finished his formal education with an English degree from New College, Oxford in 1983.
He has never had a grown-up job. For three years he lived at a succession of addresses, from a Notting Hill bedsit to a crumbling French chateau. While working on his first novels he eked out his slender income with odd jobs; as a typist, a singing waiter, a designer's secretary, a ghost-writer for an encyclopedia of the musical and, increasingly, as a book reviewer.
His first two novels, The Aerodynamics of Pork and Ease were published by Abacus on the same day in June 1986. The following year he moved to Camelford near the north coast of Cornwall and began a love affair with the county that has fed his work ever since.
He now lives in the far west, on a farm near Land's End with his husband, Aidan Hicks. There they raise beef cattle and grow barley. Patrick is obsessed with the garden they have created in what must be one of England's windiest sites and deeply resents the time his writing makes him spend away from working in it. As well as gardening, he plays both the modern and baroque cello. His chief extravagance in life is opera tickets.
He has never had a grown-up job. For three years he lived at a succession of addresses, from a Notting Hill bedsit to a crumbling French chateau. While working on his first novels he eked out his slender income with odd jobs; as a typist, a singing waiter, a designer's secretary, a ghost-writer for an encyclopedia of the musical and, increasingly, as a book reviewer.
His first two novels, The Aerodynamics of Pork and Ease were published by Abacus on the same day in June 1986. The following year he moved to Camelford near the north coast of Cornwall and began a love affair with the county that has fed his work ever since.
He now lives in the far west, on a farm near Land's End with his husband, Aidan Hicks. There they raise beef cattle and grow barley. Patrick is obsessed with the garden they have created in what must be one of England's windiest sites and deeply resents the time his writing makes him spend away from working in it. As well as gardening, he plays both the modern and baroque cello. His chief extravagance in life is opera tickets.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
January 17, 2026
Gale Project #5 - first published in 1989.
4.5, rounded up.
This was a really fun read, but also showed some growth in Gale's mastery of plot, characterization and dialogue from his already accomplished first few books. Also nice to have a bit of continuity from Facing the Tank, since one of the major characters here also hailed from Barrowchester, the setting of that book.
Since it IS over 35 years old, there are a few things in it that haven't weathered terrifically well (the final sentence extolling an interracial same-sex kiss was no doubt revolutionary back then, but reads a bit ham-fisted now), but those are relatively minor.
And it was also wonderful to have major characters facing disability (one character is most probably schizophrenic, another is sightless, born without eyeballs) without resorting to cliches. For those curious, the rather odd title refers to how Nina Simone sings the 'itty bitsy baby' portion of the lyrics to 'He's Got the Whole World in His Hands'.
4.5, rounded up.
This was a really fun read, but also showed some growth in Gale's mastery of plot, characterization and dialogue from his already accomplished first few books. Also nice to have a bit of continuity from Facing the Tank, since one of the major characters here also hailed from Barrowchester, the setting of that book.
Since it IS over 35 years old, there are a few things in it that haven't weathered terrifically well (the final sentence extolling an interracial same-sex kiss was no doubt revolutionary back then, but reads a bit ham-fisted now), but those are relatively minor.
And it was also wonderful to have major characters facing disability (one character is most probably schizophrenic, another is sightless, born without eyeballs) without resorting to cliches. For those curious, the rather odd title refers to how Nina Simone sings the 'itty bitsy baby' portion of the lyrics to 'He's Got the Whole World in His Hands'.
June 17, 2025
Love, death, art, music, blindness, monks and breakfast telly. Another delicious slice of life pie from Patrick Gale. Perhaps a star knocked off because all the characters, except for the young blind girl Iras, range from mildly annoying to extremely unpleasant.
Iras is an amazing character. 12 years old and blind, mature beyond her years. She writes a book about a girl who gets abducted by Aliens in order read an ancient text in Latin that they don't understand. On returning to earth the girl discovers she is has lost her sight but she this as a gift, not a disability. I thought this was really cool and I want to read that book.
For me, the best of Gale’s early books (before Rough Music).
Curious about the title of the book? Little Bits of Baby is a misheard lyric from the song He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands, sung by Nina Simone.
"He’s Got The Itsy-Bitsy Baby In His Hands, He’s Got the whole word in his hands".
Iras hears this and says “it’s not Itsy Bitsy Baby, it’s Little Bits of Baby, the song is about death not God”
I think she is correct.
Iras is an amazing character. 12 years old and blind, mature beyond her years. She writes a book about a girl who gets abducted by Aliens in order read an ancient text in Latin that they don't understand. On returning to earth the girl discovers she is has lost her sight but she this as a gift, not a disability. I thought this was really cool and I want to read that book.
For me, the best of Gale’s early books (before Rough Music).
Curious about the title of the book? Little Bits of Baby is a misheard lyric from the song He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands, sung by Nina Simone.
"He’s Got The Itsy-Bitsy Baby In His Hands, He’s Got the whole word in his hands".
Iras hears this and says “it’s not Itsy Bitsy Baby, it’s Little Bits of Baby, the song is about death not God”
I think she is correct.
August 5, 2024
I didn’t enjoy this, particularly because I didn’t take to Robin. The other characters seemed stilted in their speech and I felt they were 2 dimensional cardboard cutouts. Jasper, the supposedly six year old boy, was portrayed too young for this age too.
January 25, 2013
Did I enjoy this book? I really don't know. The characters really annoyed me, all of them, apart from the girl with no eyes, perhaps. But I read it all, I wanted to know what happened, so I must have cared a little bit. Baffled.
June 21, 2017
The only book of Patrick Gale's I just couldn't get into, sadly...
November 11, 2020
Patrick Gale is my comfort reading. He is a good story teller, I care about his characters and his books are suffused with humanity and perception. Unfortunately this time I was sorely disappointed. The first stumbling block was the title, it sounded like a horror book but I pressed on. (It turns out to a mishearing of some lyrics but why this is the title is beyond me.) My problem was that I never really cared why the central character, Robin, who ran away to an island monastery eight years previously nor about the lives of his parents and his former best friends.
Towards the end of the book, I began to understand Robin's flight had not been caused by rejection but that he had some undiagnosed mental health problem and I began to feel engaged. While I limped through the majority of the book, I sped through the final part and remembered why I enjoy Gale.
This book is really only for the completist who has to read all Gale's book, for everyone else I would suggest choosing another of his titles.
Towards the end of the book, I began to understand Robin's flight had not been caused by rejection but that he had some undiagnosed mental health problem and I began to feel engaged. While I limped through the majority of the book, I sped through the final part and remembered why I enjoy Gale.
This book is really only for the completist who has to read all Gale's book, for everyone else I would suggest choosing another of his titles.
February 23, 2021
Beyond the title (taken from the lyrics of a song by Nina Simone about god and/or death) that doesn't seem to apply to anything specific in the narrative, I have to admit to being baffled by the book itself.
Gale is a good writer and an engaging storyteller but the story has no real focus, and seems clogged by lots of scenes and events that little real bearing on the plot. It is a tranche de vie, presenting the lives of its characters at one point of their interactions together, but it was impossible to find some sort of morale to the book.
A good number of those characters are not particularly endearing, and that especially the case with the central figure, Robin, who, beyond his mental health issues is reveal as someone who is self-centred to the point of meanness. To the point that it is difficult to imagine, let alone understand why he would inspire such love to everyone he meets.
Gale never lets the reader find out what are the central motivations of his characters, even when he gives superficial reasons to their actions. He seems to be trying to make some sort of point about love
and how it is potentially more important than material wealth. On p265, Robin is told that ‘All this love makes your life worthwhile. Not just for your pleasure, though it will come, but because a life lived wholly is an occasion for love.’ But the fact that his characters all more or less end financially well off seem to contradict that very notion.
Gale manages to keep his tale this side of sentimentality and the momentum of the plot is strong enough to take the reader along its tumultuous stream but only to leave them unfortunately stranded on a pretty shore with nothing of substance to eat or drink.
Gale is a good writer and an engaging storyteller but the story has no real focus, and seems clogged by lots of scenes and events that little real bearing on the plot. It is a tranche de vie, presenting the lives of its characters at one point of their interactions together, but it was impossible to find some sort of morale to the book.
A good number of those characters are not particularly endearing, and that especially the case with the central figure, Robin, who, beyond his mental health issues is reveal as someone who is self-centred to the point of meanness. To the point that it is difficult to imagine, let alone understand why he would inspire such love to everyone he meets.
Gale never lets the reader find out what are the central motivations of his characters, even when he gives superficial reasons to their actions. He seems to be trying to make some sort of point about love
and how it is potentially more important than material wealth. On p265, Robin is told that ‘All this love makes your life worthwhile. Not just for your pleasure, though it will come, but because a life lived wholly is an occasion for love.’ But the fact that his characters all more or less end financially well off seem to contradict that very notion.
Gale manages to keep his tale this side of sentimentality and the momentum of the plot is strong enough to take the reader along its tumultuous stream but only to leave them unfortunately stranded on a pretty shore with nothing of substance to eat or drink.
May 9, 2018
Eight years ago Robin, after an incident involving his friends Jake and Candida, runs away to live in a monastery on an island.
He comes back to be godfather to Jake and Candida's new born daughter and at the christening meets Faber, an artist. What happens next makes for a really good story with memorable characters.
(Oh and I've listened to Nina Simone and it's definitely "little bits of baby.")
He comes back to be godfather to Jake and Candida's new born daughter and at the christening meets Faber, an artist. What happens next makes for a really good story with memorable characters.
(Oh and I've listened to Nina Simone and it's definitely "little bits of baby.")
June 25, 2023
I always enjoy reading books by Patrick Gale. Mostly for his quality to put human connections in beautiful prose. And then especialy the vunerabilty of those connections.
Challenging for me in a few of his stories, is his tendency towards the ridicilous and sometimes even the absurd. It’s probably a matter of taste, but that’s why I don’t give all of his books topmarks.
‘Rough Music’ is far and above my favorite. Probably 4,5. This one falls a bit short of that, but since the absurd is pretty much absent here, I did really like this one as well.
Challenging for me in a few of his stories, is his tendency towards the ridicilous and sometimes even the absurd. It’s probably a matter of taste, but that’s why I don’t give all of his books topmarks.
‘Rough Music’ is far and above my favorite. Probably 4,5. This one falls a bit short of that, but since the absurd is pretty much absent here, I did really like this one as well.
June 22, 2019
Read this ages ago before Goodreads, just remember that I enjoyed it and sought out his other works.
June 19, 2011
Love,death,heartbreak, mental illness, homosexuality. Patrick Gale tackles all these and more with humor and poignancy. I love his writing; he is honest without being sentimental. His characters are so fully rounded I feel I know each one by the end of the book, and I care about each one. "Little Bits of Baby" follows Robin, who is reentering the world of his family and friends after 8 years in a monastery. His journey of self discovery begins when he steps back into the lives of his parents, and his two old friends, whose betrayal 8 years ago caused him to retreat. The lives of these 5, and several other, overlap and intertwine with humor, love, desperation and misunderstandings. Gale deftly peels back the layers of each one's story, revealing bit by bit the frailty of each, and the humanity.
"Little Bits of Baby" also sent me searching my Nina Simone CDs for "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." I didn't find it there, but found it on YouTube. The song will never be an around-the-campfire song for me again, Simone reinvented it
"Little Bits of Baby" also sent me searching my Nina Simone CDs for "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." I didn't find it there, but found it on YouTube. The song will never be an around-the-campfire song for me again, Simone reinvented it
November 6, 2021
embarrassingly bad
Written as if the author had never met people but only learned about them by reading mediocre fiction of the 1950s. Stilted dialogue meant to portray characters as bright sparks falls awkwardly flat. Bits of racism and a really backwards attitude toward disability, too.
Written as if the author had never met people but only learned about them by reading mediocre fiction of the 1950s. Stilted dialogue meant to portray characters as bright sparks falls awkwardly flat. Bits of racism and a really backwards attitude toward disability, too.
January 15, 2019
Little bits of joy
Enjoyed reading this novel. It's not my favourite but I still couldn't put it down. I liked the way the characters interacted and lots of emotions were explored.
Enjoyed reading this novel. It's not my favourite but I still couldn't put it down. I liked the way the characters interacted and lots of emotions were explored.
February 16, 2022
I have come away from this novel feeling disappointed. The main character, Robin, I find most disagreeable - Gale fills out his past to an extent but this doesn’t make up for how self-centred and downright nasty he can be to those around him. The schizophrenia he is supposed to suffer from is sketchily described as ‘attacks’ of paranoia that come and go with no rhyme or reason - the rest of the time he appears to cope admirably as a social person and to steam roller his way through life and loved ones with wild abandon. Despite this, they continue to worship the little prat!
The other characters are roughly drawn and some of the incidents Gale details appear to have little bearing on the plot. Not a satisfying read.
The other characters are roughly drawn and some of the incidents Gale details appear to have little bearing on the plot. Not a satisfying read.
July 14, 2024
I’ve read many novels by Patrick Gale and would claim him as one of my favourite authors but unfortunately I enjoyed this one much less. He has great knowledge of the world of art and culture and digs deep into the psychi of his characters. I find it disappointing, with so much research and knowledge in so many areas, when authors don’t afford the same depth to matter around the Church. The business with the priest and funeral in this novel were just inaccurate and, for me, it shatters the illusion the author creates for the rest of the book. I also found, in this novel, the characters difficult to follow and remember who was who. Might just have been me but usually in Mr Gale’s novels, I’m able to submerge myself.
August 29, 2019
I love patrick gale. I thought this was good, I really enjoyed the storyline, but it was difficult to like the main character. However I really enjoyed most of the other characters, particularly Andrea and Peter. As usual, gale provided such an easy read yet with lots of important messages.
December 27, 2020
Fractured families. Involves Robin returning from a monastery to set in motion a series of events linking together friends and family. Not one of Gale’s best, his characters are still well formed but I couldn’t bring myself to care for any of them, all too self satisfied. An easy read at Christmas.
December 5, 2018
Love all Patrick Gale books
October 19, 2019
My least favourite Patrick Gale book.
November 26, 2019
Took me a while before I was fully engaged in the book. So would recommend you persevere because, like a theatre play, the second half makes it all worth it.
May 10, 2020
I enjoy this author but I was 50/50 about this book. Some of the characters were strong and endearing whilst others virtually blank. I enjoyed it but it didn’t move me like some of his other novels.
May 11, 2020
*3.5*
October 1, 2022
A powerfully written novel about love, family, fame, and mental health.
December 21, 2022
Good old Patrick Gale - just what the doctor ordered. I love the unconventionality of his characters and their frequent failure to comply with social norms without caring what people will think of them.
May 8, 2023
Excellent book. Wonderful combination of skill, thoughtfulness and humour.
September 8, 2024
I enjoyed all the quirky characters as I always do with Gale. A nice easy read with a clever plotline. Decent.
September 12, 2015
Patrick Gale takes you on a little journey into the love triangle lives of the main characters, the story being peppered with descriptions of ordinary moments we can all relate to; but the entirety coming together into a very English tale told in Gale's Classic, comfortable style.
July 15, 2025
3.5+ stars!! Lovely book - my mums fav book might reread cos I feel like I should have liked this more
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews