‘Fair Weather’
— Reneé Bibby
Laura Lamb’s ‘Fair Weather’ has all the delicious ingredients of a fairytale: a boy with childish faith in the unreal, a plucky older sister, guardian grandparents, old-timey music, ghostly carnivals, sea adventures, and oblique references to the old ways in the Old World—but it never suffers from the flatness or moral bluntness of a classic fairytale.
Lamb builds robustness by adding in layers to the characters; the sister, Rose, edging from childhood naivety into adult skepticism is introspective and astute about her brother; Charlie, the brother, is precocious but also realistically tantrummy. Left to their own devices, the two experience something inexplicable, magical, and of the moment. It’s not a grand adventure, nobody needs slaying or rescue or defending; the day asks only that they be together, present, and open to the fleeting strangeness that crosses between the boundaries of worlds.
Loosely placed in a modern era, the sensible and workaday attitude of the kids mixes with the fairytale surrealism for an interesting vintage chic story. Take a break from your day, and like Charlie and Rose, be open to the magic to come.