Off the Bookshelf

Pobby and Dingan

Knopf, 80 pp., $16

Ben Rice's debut novel is a sweet but not gooey tale of two children growing up in Lightning Ridge, the "opal capital" of Australia. Ashmol Williamson narrates the tale of his sister, Kellyanne, and her two imaginary friends, Pobby and Dingan. So vivid is her belief in them that even the annoyed and cynical Ashmol knows that Pobby, the boy, has a limp, and that Dingan, the girl, has an opal in her bellybutton. When their opal miner father humors Kellyanne and brings the two imaginary youngsters with him to the mine, he unwittingly forgets about them and leaves them behind. Later that night, Kellyanne climbs into Ashmol's bed and cries because Pobby and Dingan are "maybe-dead." Literally sick with grief, Kellyanne lands in the hospital, leaving it up to Ashmol to find her imaginary friends. Although a mere 80 pages in length, Pobby and Dingan is no slight achievement; Rice's bittersweet tale is packed with more winning details and full-blooded characters than many overstuffed novels.