Flying in Place

By Susan Palwick.

This is one of the most powerful stories I've ever read. I don't know whether to call it fiction or not; I suspect there is a lot of truth in it. Perhaps it's as Flannery O'Conner said: the supernatural element is needed to wake us up, to make the horror that's really present real to us.

This is a story about child abuse. One day at dawn, Emma escapes from her body and meets her sister Ginny, dead 12 years at 12 years of age, doing cartwheels on the bedroom ceiling. I don't know if it's possible for a story like this to be "spoiled", but Ginny is very important in the course of the book.

I would definitely recommend this book (it's only about 180 pages), but it isn't something to read lightly, as I expected from a novel with "Flying" in the title. Be careful.