Oct 14, 2008

The Higher Power of Lucky | Setting

The Higher Power of Lucky is set in and around Hard Pan, California, a town of 43 people. The town’s tiny size and isolation are emphasized throughout the book in many ways: locations do double or triple duty (the visitor center, for example, is also a museum); the bus ride to school is fifty miles long; and, of course, everyone knows everyone else’s business, including how many people there are in the town (it dropped to 42 when Lucky’s mother died but went back to 43 when Brigitte moved in) and what they have for dinner and snacks.

The town is also poor. Many of the...