The Way the Family Got Away

In Michael Kimball’s disturbing first novel, a three-year-old girl and her seven-year-old brother try to comprehend their family’s journey through a series of towns after the death of one of their siblings – she by playing with her doll family in an effort to understand the emotional landscape, and he by meticulously assessing the physical geography: the names of the towns and the things it took them to get there. Their final stop is their grandfather’s house, where they’re left to face an uncertain future. Through the eyes and in the language of children, Kimball tries to make sense of loss, love, and death.