The Map of Tiny Perfect Things

by Lev Grossman

Release: May 2016
Format: Novelette
Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Audience: YA and Up
Content: Definite Time Travel
Original Language: English

This novelette version of Mark and Margaret living August 4th over and over preceded the Amazon movie by about three years, but the charm of both teens and their growth through the repeating day was evident even in this original version. If you read the standalone Kindle version of the story, you’ll be rewarded with an epilogue where Gooseman talks about the path he took from the novelette to his first screenplay that became the movie, which we awarded a Gold Eloi Medal.

— Michael Main

“Look, I don’t know how to put this exactly,” I said, “but would you happen to be trapped in a temporal anomaly? Like right now? Like there’s something wrong with time?”

DEBUT

“The Map of Tiny Perfect Things,” in Summer Days and Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories, edited by Stephanie Perkins (St. Martin’s Griffin, May 2016).

VARIANTS

3 English variants

TRANSLATIONS

Bulgarian translation:
[ex=bare]“Kartata na munichkite suvursheni neshta” | The map of little perfect things | “Kartata na munichkite suvursheni neshta”[/ex], in Летни дни и летни нощи: 12 любовни истории Summer days and summer nights: 12 love stories, edited by Stephanie Perkins (Ciela, June 2016).
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Czech translation:
[ex=bare]“Mapa perfektních maličkostí” | The map of little perfect things[/ex], in Letní dny a noci: Dvanáct prázdninových políbení, edited by Stephanie Perkins (CooBoo, August 2017).
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Italian translation:
[ex=bare]“La mappa delle piccole cose perfette” | The map of the perfect little things[/ex], in Cosa resta dell’estate: storie d’amore lunghe un anno, edited by Stephanie Perkins (EaA Planeta Libri, May 2019).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Lev Grossman
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Norwegian translation:
[ex=bare]“Kartet over bitte små perfekte ting” | The map of tiny perfect things[/ex], in Sommerdager og sommernetter: tolv fortellinger om kjærlighet, edited by Stephanie Perkins (Gyldendal, 2017).
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Persian translation:
[ex=bare]نقشه چیزهای عالی کوچک | The map of small and wonderful moments | “Neqshh a lhezat kewechek w fewq al’eadh”[/ex], in کتاب روزها و شبهای تابستان : دوازده عاشقانه تابستانی Summer days and nights book: twelve summer romances, edited by Stephanie Perkins (آذرباد, 2017).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Lev Grossman as by لو گروسمان
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Polish translation:
[ex=bare]“Mapa maleńkich wspaniałości” | The map of tiny wonders[/ex], in Ktoś mnie pokocha: 12 wakacyjnych opowiadań, edited by Stephanie Perkins (Otwarte, 2017).
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Portuguese translation:
“O Mapa das Pequenas Coisas Perfeitas,” in Aconteceu Naquele Verão: Doze Histórias de Amor, edited by Stephanie Perkins (Intrinseca, January 2017).
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Romanian translation:
[ex=bare]“Harta lucrurilor perfecte” | The map of perfect things[/ex], in Zile & nopți de vară: 12 povestiri de dragoste, edited by Stephanie Perkins (Epica, October 2017).
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Spanish translation:
[ex=bare]“El mapa de la pequeñas cosas perfectas” | The map of little perfect things[/ex], in Días de sol y noches de verano: Doce historias de amor, edited by Stephanie Perkins (Alfaguara Juvenil, May 2017).
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Turkish translation:
[ex=bare]”Küçük Mükemmel Şeyler Haritası” | Little perfect things map[/ex], in Yazdan Geriye Kalanlar, edited by Stephanie Perkins (Yabancı Yayınları, October 2016).
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10 translations

DERIVATIVE WORKS

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things by Lev Grossman, directed by Ian Samuels, (Netflix, USA, 12 February 2021).

TAGS(SPOILERS!)

Time Periods

Circa AD 2000 to 2099: presumed

Timeline Models

Time Loop

Time Travel Methods

Wish Travel: Not fully explained, but Margaret says, “That night, when I went to bed, all I could think was that tomorrow cannot come. Time cannot go on. I am pulling the emergency brake of time. I even said it out loud: ‘Tomorrow cannot come.’”

TIME TRAVEL ITINERARY (SPOILERS!)

From various locations around Mark and Margaret’s home town, Lexington, and once for Mark in Tokyo, at the stroke of midnight in Lexington, Massachusetts ⋙ to Mark and Margaret’s separate beds, when they woke up, about sixteen hours earlier. Multiple trips. Note: only Mark and Margaret are aware of the time loop.