As teenagers, wealthy Madison and scholarship student Lillian became unlikely friends at a prestigious boarding school, until Lillian was expelled for something Madison did. Now that they're in their late 20s, Madison is married to a senator, and she invites Lillian--who spends her days working at a grocery store and smoking pot in her mother's attic--to their estate to care for her new stepchildren…who are prone to literally bursting into flames when upset. The novel is a love letter to the weirdness and difficulties of children and of parenting, with or without spontaneous human combustion. The fire is a lovely and flexible metaphor for childhood--the pain, joy, and mania of it--as vital, beautiful, and terrifying as kids themselves can be. Lillian tells the story in an easy, engaging voice, cynical and funny without being caustic. Like the author's The Family Fang, this is another story of a family that is as delightfully bizarre as it is heartfelt and true. VERDICT Wilson further cements himself as a chronicler of peculiar families while reminding us that, then again, aren't they all? [See Prepub Alert, 5/5/19.]--Katy Hershberger, School Library Journal

Slighter in scale than Wilson's previous novels, this one is powered, like his strange and funny short stories, by an element of fantasy. It's about the children of a wealthy and powerful Tennessee politician who, when emotionally stressed, catch fire literally. The pol's latest wife, Madison, a child of wealth herself, calls on her best friend from prep school, Lillian, for a big, well-remunerated favor: take care of the kids for the summer. Lillian, from way on the other side of the tracks, had accepted the expulsion from school Madison deserved and has foundered ever since. But her loving admiration of Madison still burns bright (and is not unrequited, entirely), and she agrees. Lillian tells the story, revealing immediately that she's another of Wilson's normal extraordinary protagonists, like Annie and Buster in The Family Fang (2011) and single mom Izzy Poole in Perfect Little World (2017). She fills the book with her wry humor and large, embracing heart as she ponders the love of friendship and the love of family and then acts on what she discovers.--Ray Olson Copyright 2010 Booklist

Decades after an unforgivable trespass, two childhood friends are reunited in a most unusual arrangement.Wilson is a remarkable writer for many different reasons, as demonstrated by his quirky novels, Perfect Little World (2017) and The Family Fang (2011), and tons of short stories. One of his greatest strengths is the ability to craft an everyday family drama and inject it with one odd element that turns the story on its head. He's done it again here, writing once more about family but with some most unusual children and a particularly charming narrator. Back in the day, Lillian and Madison were besties at an elite boarding school, the former a smart scholarship student and the latter a quirky but spoiled rich girl. But when Madison got into trouble, privilege reared its ugly head, and Lillian was the one kicked out of school. Now grown, she spends her days at her dead-end job and her off hours getting stoned. Out of the blue, Madison reappears, now mother to her darling boy, Timothy, and the wife of a U.S. senator and budding political star. But the family is in a quandary over what to do with the senator's twin children from a previous marriage, Bessie and Roland. Oh, and by the way, the twins spontaneously combust when they're angry or upset. No harm comes to them, but clothes, houses, and anything else in their orbit can go up in flames. Lillian is offered a job looking after the twins for the summer until the fam can figure out what to do with the little fireballs. To her own surprise, Lillian turns out to be a terrific guardian, despite her own doubts. "They were me, unloved and fucked over, and I was going to make sure they got what they needed," she affirms. The book's denouement is a bit predictable, but Lillian develops into an engaging parental proxy in Wilson's latest whimsical exploration of family.A funny and touching fable about love for kids, even the ones on fire. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Wilson (Baby, You're Gonna Be Mine) turns a bizarre premise into a beguiling novel about unexpected motherhood. When aimless, low-achieving 28-year-old Lillian Breaker receives a mysterious invitation from Madison Roberts, her former roommate at a prestigious high school, longtime correspondent, and now wife to a senator, she does not hesitate to travel to Franklin, Tenn. Madison offers her a job as a very discreet governess for the senator's twin children from a prior marriage. Ten-year-olds Bessie and Roland sometimes burst into flames, and Madison is desperate to avoid a scandal upsetting the senator's chances of becoming secretary of state. Lillian accepts and, with begrudging help from Carl, the senator's shadowy right-hand man, guides the children through coping mechanisms in the guest house on the family's lavish estate while Madison and Senator Roberts remain icy toward them. Their progress is upended, though, when the senator's prospects rapidly change and Lillian has to decide where her loyalties are. Lillian's deadpan observations zip from funny to heartbreaking while her hesitancy and messy love satisfyingly contrasts with Madison's raw drive for power and tightly controlled affection. Wilson captures the wrenching emotions of caring for children in this exceptional, and exceptionally hilarious, novel. Agent: Julie Barer, the Book Group. (Nov.)