When Impossible Happens

During lockdown in Bengaluru, India, when “you couldn’t open a window to draw in a deep breath,” eight-year-old Swara longs to see her “favorite person in the world,” maternal grandmother Pitter Paati. When usually “fizzy-busy” Pitter Paati, who lives on the city’s outskirts, falls ill and dies suddenly from the virus before Swara can see her, the girl’s family merely tells her that her grandmother is “gone.” Swara naturally finds the prospect of this sudden disappearance “V. Ridiculous. V. Impossible!” She’s sure that her detective-fiction-loving grandmother, who affectionately called her Little Miss Marble, has left clues to her whereabouts, and she dives into an inquiry from the confines of her family’s apartment. As she stares out of her bedroom window, she contemplates her grandmother’s apparent disappearance as well as a Rear Window–like scenario that unfurls under her gaze. Interspersed with occasional lists and poems, brief, conversational third-person chapters trace the stages of grief, accompanying Swara’s investigation and deeply felt emotional beats as she slowly comes to terms with her loss. It’s a compassionately rendered story, told with hope, humor, and pathos, for anyone navigating dark times. Ages 8–12. (Apr.)

Correction: A previous version of this review misstated the protagonist's name.