In an era dominated by desperate apocalyptic thinking and strangely eager doom-mongering, the comic novel faces a particularly rich yet tricky challenge. Madeline Cash, in her sparkling debut Lost Lambs, has identified a potent formula: a blend of genuine tenderness and sharp satire that feels precisely calibrated for our contemporary moment. This witty, quickfire book presents the Flynn family, residents of a small American town, navigating personal crises and moral confusion with both humour and heart.
A Family Adrift in Moral Turmoil
The Flynn household is in profound disarray. Catherine and Bud once shared a passionate connection when he was a budding rock star and she an aspiring artist. Years later, they find themselves burdened with three daughters and an abundance of Tupperware, their original spark dimmed. Catherine's artistic yearnings are rekindled by Jim, an amateur artist whose attentions make her feel "the youthful comfort of being understood." This prompts a dramatic domestic upheaval, complete with nude self-portraits adorning the walls and a proclamation of open marriage, all while she remains unaware of Jim's peculiar basement collection of pottery vaginas.
The Flynn Daughters: A Trio of Discontent
The Flynn sisters each embody a distinct strain of modern alienation. Harper, aged thirteen, is a child genius fluent in six languages yet "mythically bored," resulting in regular school suspensions. Louise, suffering the classic "plight of the middle child," feels trapped "in a prison of her own mundanity" until she finds dubious solace in an online lover named yourstruly, who encourages her to invest in bomb-making equipment. Seventeen-year-old Abigail, the family beauty, adopts a brutally pragmatic approach to romance, telling her mother that heavy makeup efficiently signals her intentions to men: "Good. It saves me the trouble of telling them myself." Her latest romantic interest is War Crimes Wes, a former soldier now working in private security.
Brilliant Plotting in a Town of Extremes
Cash demonstrates a masterful talent for plotting, an often underappreciated literary art. The narrative engine is fuelled by a clash between church and commerce, represented by two formidable figures vying for the Flynns' souls. On one side stands Paul Alabaster, the town's megalomaniac billionaire shipping magnate who employs Bud in his accounts department. On the other is God, whose influence is mediated by the well-meaning local do-gooder Miss Winkle.
Miss Winkle runs the "Lost Lambs" support group, which a depressed Bud is sent to after struggling at work. A clumsily passionate encounter between Bud and Miss Winkle proves unexpectedly transformative, giving Bud a new, if awkward, purpose: to become a better person. This newfound moral compass brings him into direct conflict with his powerful employer, Paul Alabaster.
Conspiracies Coalesce and Truths Emerge
The plot thickens as multiple investigations into Alabaster converge. Harper's boredom leads her to scrutinise the Alabaster accounts on the family computer, where she discovers an anomalous, unaccounted-for shipping container delivered annually. Bud, inspired by his connection with Miss Winkle, begins asking his boss uncomfortable questions about this discrepancy. Simultaneously, War Crimes Wes grows suspicious as Abigail becomes the sole female invitee to Alabaster's next high-security party.
Adding to the intrigue is Abigail's best friend, Tibet, a conspiracy theory addict who speculates that Alabaster's quest for eternal youth may involve vampiric practices. As the narrative accelerates towards the climactic party, these threads intertwine, revealing that the conspiracy theorists may hold more truth than anyone expected. Through the chaos, the Flynn sisters discover a deeper, more loyal bond than they had previously feared possible.
The Priestesses of Goodness and New Truth
The novel's moral centre is held by two contrasting figures: Miss Winkle and Tibet. Miss Winkle embodies an intriguingly unfashionable vision of goodness. Early in the story, Bud poses a question to Harper: "Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?" Initially choosing happiness, Bud learns through Miss Winkle's influence that genuine happiness is inseparable from rightness—a lesson his expanding family circle gradually embraces.
Tibet, meanwhile, champions a new model of truth. Convinced that each individual experiences "only a tiny fraction of reality," she advocates for innovative forms of pooled knowledge. While this leads her to a curious vindication of online conspiracy theories, the novel itself proposes its own compelling vision of collective truth and understanding.
A Virtuosic and Energising New Voice
Madeline Cash's exceptional wit enables her to satirise the modern world while simultaneously warming the reader's heart. Although the intricate plot occasionally dominates the novel's atmosphere, and the typographical playfulness featuring pesky "gnats" (as in "explagnation") might verge on the overly winsome, the overall effect is remarkably successful. In a time when conspiracy theories prove disturbingly right as often as they are wrong, and when traditional tenderness and laughter feel increasingly essential, Cash emerges as a happy, energising, and vital new voice in contemporary fiction.
