Perfect Little World

A Novel

By: Kevin Wilson

Narrated by: Therese Plummer

An Earphone Award Winner

Audiobook performed by Therese Plummer

When Isabelle Poole meets Dr. Preston Grind, she's at a crossroads in her life. Fresh out of high school and pregnant with her art teacher’s baby, Izzy faces an uncertain future. Her mother is dead and her father is a drunk. The art teacher is too much of a head-case to help raise the child. Izzy knows she can be a good mother but without any money or prospects, she's left searching.

So when Dr. Grind offers her a space in The Infinite Family Project, she accepts. Housed in a spacious compound in Tennessee, she joins nine other couples, all with children the same age as her newborn son, to raise their children as one extended family. Grind's theory is that the more parental love a child receives, the better off they are.

This attempt at a utopian ideal starts off promising: Izzy enjoys the kids, reading to them and teaching them to cook. She even forms a bond with her son more meaningful than she ever expected. But soon the gentle equilibrium among the families is upset. Unspoken resentments between the couples begin to fester. The project's funding becomes tenuous; and Izzy's feelings for Dr. Grind, who is looking to expunge his own painful childhood, make her question her participation in this experiment in the first place.

Written with the same compassionate voice, disarming sense of humor, and charm that made The Family Fang such a success, PERFECT LITTLE WORLD is a poignant look at how the best families are the ones we make for ourselves.

Another beautiful Kevin Wilson story

I just love the way that Kevin Wilson can take unusual situations and find the beauty and humanity in the extraordinary. And this reader is divine. So well done.

Delightful and long awaited

I’ve been waiting for Mr. Wilson to publish something-Anything- since I read The Family Fang. Perfect Little World isn’t as transporting or wonderfully weird as Family Fang but it’s a fun little field trip nonetheless. The performance is fantastic.

Love Kevin Wilson characters and stories

I have become a big fan of Kevin Wilson in the last year. This is my 4th and each one is a gem. He has such a sweet sensitivity for children. The narrator was excellent also.

A Different Kevin Wilson

I love all Kevin Wilson's books because they are creative, unique and profound. This one is different in that while his usual quirkiness I love so much is non-existent, it's still very good. Fans of Wilson's more extreme style might be disappointed with this shift to more normalcy, so be advised that this book is not intended for wild entertainment with a deep underlying message like the others, it is much more straightforward.

Warning:spoilers

A unique and complex story and impressive narration, but somehow the way the ending was so neatly tied up felt a bit too perfect. But I enjoyed it all the same! Sometimes when kids are featured prominently, I find the narration of their voices (by an adult narrator) to be a little grating. It’s unavoidable in this book but it was handled well.