SOME SUNNY DAY

The Covid-19 lockdown brings changes to nearly every part of Cymbeline Igloo’s life and London neighborhood.

Minor triumphs like scoring the last bottle of ketchup from the grocery’s half-empty shelves notwithstanding, most of those changes are for the worse—Cym’s prospective stepsisters and stepdad are stranded in New Zealand; suddenly he’s distance schooling and can’t even meet his friends just to kick a ball around; and in a disastrous fit of housecleaning, his mum has thrown out his priceless signed soccer jersey. Worst of all, though, is the news that octogenarian school lunch lady Mrs. Stebbings been taken to the ICU. Cym is a lad of deep feelings and sharp sensations, traits that both lighten the load (describing the taste of Mrs. Stebbings’ sticky toffee pudding: “like a thousand very small angels climbing into your mouth and setting off a million golden explosions on your tongue”) and prime readers for the heartfelt and emotionally climactic get-well video he goes on to orchestrate. But along with yet another near-death experience for the resilient protagonist of Boy Underwater (2022), Baron tucks in a subplot involving newly arrived refugees from Syria and Eritrea on the way to an upbeat, if not tragedy-free, ending. The refugees and some established characters add diversity to the largely White-presenting cast.

An appealing early entry for the pandemic fiction list: light in tone but grounded in serious incidents and themes.