Childhood In Zoran's The Gadsby Children

The setup — that after the death of Iris, Bluebell’s twin sister, the family has come apart, parents burying themselves in work, children running riot — does what a lot of good children’s fiction aims to do: sidelines the parents from the start. The result is a portrait of childhood that is as much a fantasy these days as the wildest science fiction; despite Zoran’s best efforts, the Gadsby children roam about unattended, hang out in the park with skateboarders after school and shamble off on adventures. Nobody ever really knows where anyone else