Las Vegas is a striking example of the power of the human will to conquer its environment. Its lights are visible from space, recognisable as a spider’s web with the pulsating Strip at its heart. McBride’s outstanding debut is a tale of families who call this desert city home, where poverty and luxury rub shoulders and people lead ordinary, and sometimes extraordinary, lives. The harshness of some children’s lives here is heartbreaking but among the struggle and excess, life matters; the little things matter, like taking care of one another, showing love and taking a chance that we won’t be rebuffed. McBride is a writer of great power and wonderful empathy and she has crafted a story that draws us into the interlinking lives of people who might never have known the impact their actions could have on their fellow man until the consequences become undeniable.
