Bender’s uneven collection of quirky short stories

Willful Creatures

She’s best known for her second novel, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, about Rose, a girl who can taste the feelings and mood of the people who cook her food.

The girl’s brother, in that book, was even weirder. By the end, he succeeds in his lifetime’s aim, and is subsumed into his favourite chair. Strange indeed. Yet the reader becomes so consumed by Bender’s story, so fond of her characters, and so used to her quirkiness, that they can take it all quite in their stride. I loved the book, and the character of Rose has lingered in my mind.