“Children exist in a state of grace” recites a character in L’Argent de Poche (Small Change), Truffaut’s warm, bittersweet film about the vulnerability and resiliency of children. In Sleeping Arrangements, Laura Shaine Cunningham lifts the veil from her past to share the dangers, discoveries, losses, and affection as she experienced them in childhood. Sleeping Arrangements does not read like a retelling, rather Cunningham seems to re-inhabit her childhood and allow her young life to materialize before you as you read. Growing up largely unsupervised until her mother’s death at age 8, Lily wanders into perilous and potentially scarring situations; yet she emerges unscathed and wonder struck, knowing that she is loved and capable of loving. If you enjoy Sleeping Arrangements, I strongly recommend that you read Childhood and Other Neighborhoods by the great Stuart Dybek.
-Valerie Mittenberg
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