When Mona Gray is ten her father contracts a mysterious illness. His gradual withdrawal from everyday life marks a similar change in Mona, who removes herself from anything - or anyone - that might bring her happiness. Numbers provide a kind of solace, and help her make sense of the world: she counts words in her head, adds her steps, and multiplies people in the park against one another. When she becomes a maths teacher, Mona delights her pupils by encouraging them to find objects that take the form of numbers. But when 7-year-old Lisa appears with a zero that displays real turmoil, Mona knows that in order to help a person in pain, she needs to find a way to connect with the world she has been afraid of for so long.
'Intelligent and engaging... [A] fanciful and original take on the quietly helter-skelter world that lies within.' - The New York Times
'Light as a zephyr and unique as a snowflake.' - The Washington Post
'An achingly idiosyncratic story...rendered...with eloquence, hilarity, and ominous precision.' - The Boston Globe
Author
About Aimee Bender
Aimee Bender is the author of the novel An Invisible Sign of My Own and of the collections The Girl in the Flammable Skirt and Wilful Creatures. Her work has been widely anthologised and has been translated into ten languages. She lives in Los Angeles.
