🚀 Summary

In Nothing To See Here Wilson examines themes like finding meaning, parenting, the need to be understood. 10-year-old twins- Bessie and Roberts- spontaneously combust when upset or angry. After their mother’s sudden death, the twins move in with their father, senator Jasper Roberts, and stepmother, Madison. Because flammable kids are a big no to the senator and his aspiration to be president, Madison calls on her long-lost best friend, Lillian, to be a governess. Lillian and Madison were close in school, but now Lillian is a bit of an oddball. She decides being a paid governess could not be worse than her present financially and emotionally insecure existence. After initial conflict and misunderstandings, Lillian earns their trust and they find a sense of belonging in each other.

🎨 Impressions

I listened to the audiobook. It’s an endearing and amusing story that I breezed through in two days. Wilson keeps you engaged and entertained- in spite of a somewhat predictable end. And I really enjoyed reading David’s review.

🕵 How I Discovered It

Goodreads.

✍️ My Favorite Quotes

“The kids were happy. They had added another to their numbers. They didn’t want to set the world on fire. They just wanted to be less alone in it.”

“This was what I finally realized, that even as we sank deeper and deeper into our lives, we were always separate. And I wondered what it would feel like, to fall but to hold on to someone else so you weren’t alone.”

“I’m not joking when I say that I never liked people, because people scared me. Because anytime I said what was inside me, they had no idea what I was talking about. They made me want to smash a window just to have a reason to walk away from them. Because I kept fucking up, because it seemed so hard not to fuck up, I lived a life where I had less than what I desired. So instead of wanting more, sometimes I just made myself want even less. Sometimes I made myself believe that I wanted nothing, not even food or air. And if I wanted nothing, I’d just have to turn in to a ghost. And that would be the end of it.”