Relatively Strange by Marilyn Messik

Relatively Strange is the fascinating tale of Stella, who uses the term "Strange" to categorize her extraordinary abilities. Stella, who lives in 1960's England, is telekinetic, pyrokinetic, can levitate, read minds and do quite a few other impossible things. Much of this story is about how Stella navigates a normal life while being something other than normal herself. There are encounters with others like herself, as well as a nefarious group of "medical" people who have no morals or ethics whatsoever. I found the historical background of Stella's family to be interesting. A post-WWII, post-Holocaust Jewish family trying very hard to continue to be perceived as normal despite their daughter's differences. This was a subtle reminder that. Not too far in the past, any "otherness" was an offense, punishable by death. And yet, they accept her, for the most part, as different, but not wrong or bad. It was, in fact, the great compassion of many of the wildly fascinating characters in this book that kept my attention. It was a great deal of fun to read. I would recommend it to all readers. ARC provided by NetGalley