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Staff Pick
Kevin Wilson, author of the fantastic The Family Fang, returns with a second novel about the concept of family. In Perfect Little World, Izzy Poole is approached by an unusual psychologist to raise her child in a collective called the Infinite Family Project (the children don't know who their true parents are). Moving, sharp, and insightful. Recommended By Moses M., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
When Isabelle Poole meets Dr. Preston Grind, she s fresh out of high school, pregnant with her art teacher's baby, and totally on her own. Izzy knows she can be a good mother but without any money or relatives to help, she's left searching.
Dr. Grind, an awkwardly charming child psychologist, has spent his life studying family, even after tragedy struck his own. Now, with the help of an eccentric billionaire, he has the chance to create a perfect little world to study what would happen when ten children are raised collectively, without knowing who their biological parents are. He calls it The Infinite Family Project and he wants Izzy and her son to join.
This attempt at a utopian ideal starts off promising, but soon the gentle equilibrium among the families disintegrates: unspoken resentments between the couples begin to fester; the project's funding becomes tenuous; and Izzy s growing feelings for Dr. Grind make her question her participation in this strange experiment in the first place.
Written with the same compassion and charm that won over legions of readers with The Family Fang, Kevin Wilson shows us with grace and humor that the best families are the ones we make for ourselves.
Review
"Sweet and thoroughly satisfying.... Wilson grounds his premise in credible human motivations and behavior, resulting in a memorable cast of characters.” Publishers Weekly
Review
"Bittersweet.... Wilson delves into the drama and tensions inherent in this strange aquarium.... A moving and sincere reflection on what it truly means to be a family." Kirkus (Starred Review)
Review
"Stellar.... Compelling.... Realer and wiser and sadder and eventually reassuring about human nature than dozens of other novels." Booklist, Starred Review
Review
"[A] moving novel about love, parenting, and the families we create for ourselves." Library Journal
About the Author
Kevin Wilson is the author of The New York Times bestseller The Family Fang, named a best book of the year by Time, People, Salon, and Esquire. His story collection, Tunneling to the Center of the Earth, received an Alex Award from the American Library Association as well as the Shirley Jackson Award. He has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and the KHN Center for the Arts. He teaches fiction at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, where he lives with his wife and two sons.
Kevin Wilson on PowellsBooks.Blog
I have a new novel,
Perfect Little World, that is coming out on January 24. I am going on book tour in 12 cities, including a reading in Portland at Powell’s. I am both very excited and very anxious about this. I am not unlike many other authors, I imagine. It’s hard for me to be in public...
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