TFReview: “The Hole in the Wall”
March 2, 2011
The Hole in the Wall is Clare Fisher’s debut novella, a story told from the point of view of five different characters, three of which are children. While the hole in the wall is centered in one location, each of the five narratives begins and ends with unveiling of the wall.
This is the story of two families that bisect generations and have one major thing in common. Each character is shaped or misshaped by the event that caused the hole in the wall.
Fisher weaves together odd parings of characters and puts them in situations that seem so real and strange that they just might happen.
While the novella is only five chapters, each chapter unfolds a bigger piece of the mystery and still eccentric:
Other stories I told were about the people that lived in Caroline and Michael’s briefcases. What they did was, they went to all the sad places in London and asked if any of the people there wanted to feel better. Some of the people were too sad to hear them, but other said ok. Caroline and Michael told these people to climb into their briefcases. The people didn’t believe they’d fit, but when their toes touched the leather they shrank. Caroline and Michael took these people to their office. They opened the briefcases. They ran out of the office, locking the doors behind them. The office had a window in one wall, and through that they watched to see what the sad people would do. (Chapter 4: Treasure)
–Ansley Moon
The Hole in the Wall
by Claire Fisher
available from Philistine Press
