Wise Children

Laura, who read this book long before I did, has always described it as a burst of confetti, and I still can't think of a better way to sum it up. Fans (like me) of Carter's biting and spectacularly imaginative short stories might wonder whether she could sustain their intensity and invention over a whole novel, but the answer, at least in the case of Wise Children (her last before her untimely death in 1992), is that she can, like an acrobat who keeps topping herself again and again. Somehow through all her backflips the story itself—about two aging twins, the illegitimate ("in every way") children of British theatrical royalty—has a relaxed, companionable feeling, and you can tell Carter relished every Shakespearean reversal and coincidence she concocted for it.