A Perfectly Reasonable Plan: A Novel

The plan was simple. Everything else was not.

Six-year-old Adalia Wright has an unusual way of processing grief. She buries dolls in the backyard. She reads National Geographic for tips on Aboriginal and Aztec death rituals instead of reaching for storybooks. And she has recently attempted to mummify the family cat in vegetable oil and towels--an indignity the cat, for the record, thoroughly enjoyed.

Her grandmother Winnie has had enough. Convinced Adalia would be better off with her maternal...