![]() ![]() Despite their predilection for adultery, the adult characters are quite likable they have childlike fears of rejection and hurt, as well as strong desires to please and be pleased. Cath is having an affair with a married man, for instance Marbie is cheating on Listen's father and Fancy imagines that her husband is having an affair and contemplates the possibility of one herself. Thus the plot is a postmodern panoply more familiar to readers of adult fiction, as will be many of the themes. Interwoven with Listen's story are plot threads that involve Marbie's sister, Fancy, Fancy's daughter, Cassie, and Cassie's second-grade teacher, Cath Murphy, along with various tales of the pioneers of balloon travel. ![]() Meanwhile, she's getting to know the entire Zing family: they meet once a week for dinner, and then the adults disappear into the shed to discuss the Zing Family Secret, which somehow involves lots of high-tech surveillance equipment and some breaking and entering. It's a bossy little thing, with instructions for spells that must be completed in a certain order at a certain time, and stern warnings against turning pages prematurely. Amid the clutter of boxes that fills the little house where Listen Taylor and her father have moved in with Marbie Zing, her dad's girlfriend, Listen finds a strange book. ![]()
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