The Good Children Summary
Kate Wilhelm

The Good Children Summary

With four young protagonists and a firstperson narrator, The Good Children marks a departure from Wilhelm's usual writing; it also combines elements of the horror and the mystery genres, and shows her expertise at telling a story that is both believable and fantastic. Four children have to cope with the death of their father and a public funeral. Then their mother dies and they honor her wishes and bury her body in their backyard. They continue on with their lives initially as if she were there and, finally, as if she had abandoned them. The story is about the day-to-day mechanisms they use to cope with concealing their plight from outsiders. In telling her family's story, Liz establishes the reader's sympathy for these young people who are set adrift from the normal supports they could expect from the social and family groups. The children have moved from place...

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