Alice Franklin's luminous debut novel, Life Hacks for a Little Alien, opens with a prologue, wherein the narrator addresses an unknown three-year-old who has just spoken her first words: "I'm dying a spider." The narrator, a linguist, explains the numerous ways this sentence is incorrect before turning to more comforting words--"Climb up here, Little Alien. Sit next to me. I will tell you about life on this planet. I will tell you how it goes."
The rest of the novel moves through the girl's life up to age 15. The tone maintains the direct second-person address, balancing detached observations with insights that feel more intimate, even internal. The unnamed protagonist (sometimes called "angel" or "sweet pea" by her parents but only "you'" by the narrator) moves through life uneasily, with delayed speech, difficulty performing social niceties, and trouble with eye contact. No diagnosis is ever sought or given, but after she is introduced to the untranslatable Voynich Manuscript that some suggest may have been written by aliens, things make more sense: "Maybe you are not alone in the universe after all. Maybe you are just alone on Planet Earth."
Despite these feelings of isolation, Life Hacks for a Little Alien is full of warmth, a tender and often hilarious examination of what it feels like to grow up neurodivergent. Besides giving her hope that she's not the only one of her kind, her early hyper-fixation on the Manuscript launches her lifelong fascination with language, which shines in the endlessly clever wordplay throughout. Beautifully drawn, Little Alien will resonate with readers, especially those who recognize themselves in her efforts to find her way in an unaccommodating world. --Sara Beth West, freelance reviewer and librarian