The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances

Dixon (Bootleg Stardust) spins an enchanting speculative story of a sentient Roomba vacuum cleaner who develops a relationship with her human owner. Retired couple Harold and Edie Winters still live in their family home, where Edie, a piano teacher, is dying of cancer. After she’s gone, Harold’s daughter, Kate, whom he hasn’t seen in years, is summoned by “the Grid,” an AI-driven entity of “algorithms and data” that controls all facets of human existence through the technology in their homes and vehicles. Kate is supposed to help move Harold into a seniors’ residence so the Grid can subdivide the house into apartments, having deemed the space too large for Harold to keep on his own. As this scheme unfolds, the vacuum, who names herself Scout after the To Kill a Mockingbird character beloved by Harold, sets out to save the house and Harold’s belongings, which the Grid wants for a museum. Dixon crafts a fascinating character in Scout, who brims with humanity, as when she observes that a “House without Humans was really no House at all.” The story avoids sentimentality, reaching an ending that feels genuinely hopeful despite the dystopian trappings. Readers will be endeared by this inspired domestic drama. Agent: Hilary McMahon, Westwood Creative Artists. (Apr.)