When six-year-old Elray stands up to touch the moon, she narrowly escapes a freakish electric current that claims the lives of both her parents while riding through the amusement park Tunnel of Love. Suddenly orphaned, she is left stunned and mute, until two loving but not-so-domesticated uncles step in to take charge. One is her cross-dressing uncle Ajax, who insists on being addressed as 'aunt'; the other is Uncle Harwood, a macho photographer, full of swagger and fond of a drink. When the deceptively sweet Irish lawyer Rena moves in to mount a lucrative lawsuit against the fairground, the eccentric household becomes the very model of family life re-invented. Outwardly full of adventure and thrill-seeking energy, Elray stores her grief deep inside. With young Raoul she meets her match. In pursuit of invincibility, they perform reckless acts of bravery and dangerous rituals that lead them into underground crypts and across immense rivers. Together, they begin to unearth the essential truths about courage, strength, and the transforming power of love and family. Bursting with exuberance and vibrancy, Leslie Marshall lures us into a child's world of imagination and lawlessness, a place in which all sense of normality is lost, until it is time to fall in love. In the unique character of Elray Mayhew she has surely created one of literature's most unforgettable heroines.
A passionate coming-of-age novel about how a young girl copes in an eccentric family after the accidental death of her parents at a funfair.
Leslie Marshall has written for a variety of publications, including the Washington Post, Real Simple and InStyle magazine, where she is still contributing editor. She grew up in Washington, DC, and now lives in New York. This is her first novel.
'An atmosphere of crazy cheerfulness...undercut by moments of
poignancy...a pleasure to read'
*Daily Telegraph*
'This quirky novel is a must for Kate Atkinson and John Irving fans
who are fond of a surreal read'
*Glamour*
'A lovely tale of teenage love and companionship in a world where
all adults seem insane'
*Time Out*
'An extraordinary journey through the life of an extraordinary
family, chronicled by a child-woman you will not forget'
*Anne Rivers Siddons*
'Leslie Marshall ... is the Homer of dysfunctional modern family
life. This is the best first novel I've read in years'
*Edmund White*
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