Houdini of the hills

Kamchatka

Our hero is 10 and lives in a world of superheroes, school lessons and games of Risk, trying to keep his troublesome little brother, the Midget, from breaking everything he touches, and playing Hangman with his best friend during biology class.

His playful father is a human rights lawyer, his mother a physicist who smokes Jockey cigarettes and possesses the superpowers of the Searing Smile, the Glacial Stare and the Petrifying Scream. Theirs is a warm, unruly home frequented by his parents’ politically engaged friends — until the day his mother interrupts lessons for an impromptu ‘trip’.