The protagonist sneaks out of the house when she is supposed to be watching her eight-year-old sister Lacy. The house has swallowed her eight-year-old sister Lacy, laced into the woodwork after her uncle Carlton escapes the grip of the house because he doesn't like how her father's running the family factory.
Comment with some spoilery bits:
This felt like a Nina Kiriki Hoffman story. The invention is both simple and extravagantly wild and fun. The kind of speculation that makes you jealous you didn't think of it yourself. The story tunes into a family that feels fully realized.
My only complaint is that the point-of-view character doesn't feel like the right one, or maybe it is the right one, but it should have turned out differently through further character or speculative development -- or even accepting the responsibility that another chose. As is, the primary decision is taken from the main character's hands. Perhaps it would work better as part of a novel.
The author has been nominated twice for the Aurealis award. Here's one from the ezine Metamorphosis.
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