Omnivores

Lydia Millet's first novel, Omnivores, is the story of young Estee Kraft, a dutiful daughter and prisoner in her own home - a home that her megalomaniac father, Bill, has turned into an armed camp after he secedes from the United States. In addition to rapacious (and loony) Bill, the other men in Estee's life are Pete Magnus, a vacuous Realtor who becomes her common-law husband; and Little Bill, her terrible toddling son, a "cannibal baby" who from birth consumes everything from tortilla chips to his own toenail. Through Bill, Pete, and her baby, Estee bears wide-eyed witness to the outside…