Helen Dewitt's extraordinary debut, centers on the relationship between sibylla, a single mother of precocious and rigorous intelligence, and her son, who, owing to his mother's singular attitude to education, develops i...Helen Dewitt's extraordinary debut, centers on the relationship between sibylla, a single mother of precocious and rigorous intelligence, and her son, who, owing to his mother's singular attitude to education, develops into a prodigy of learning.