Book review: “Gleam: Semma and the Secret of Stuffmore”

Gleam: Semma and the Secret of Stuffmore (Empathy Works, 2024) by Kurt Christiansen is a new middle-grade novel that’s IFS-informed. It follows a 12-year-old orphan, who sets off on a wild adventure with her twin sister and cousin in search of family and a sense of home. They encounter an eccentric uncle and a town obsessed with buying stuff and learn how Self energy (not stuff) is the source of true happiness.

Semma and her sister Trooni live in an orphanage and desperately want to escape the draconian rule of Mother Hilda. When a “Wunkie,” sent from Uncle Bumbrain, splats against their window they’ve got a quick decision to make: Leave immediately or face the wrath of Mother Hilda. They follow the Wunkie (an odd, squirrel-monkey creature) out the window, pick up their cousin on the way, and head off to the town of Stuffmore where their uncle is waiting.

There are moments of self-regulation and Parts work scattered throughout the story. Semma learns to help herself like this: “I took a few deep breaths and focused on feeling the warm, tingling energy in my feet and hands. Doing this usually helped me to relax a little and let go of my worry thoughts.”

When they arrive in Stuffmore, not everything is as it seems. Initial glee about visiting a huge shopping center to buy, buy, buy becomes a burden when they are expected to wake up early and shop all day, every day. They search for “happiness points” in order to lead the Happiness List but end up questioning the maxim: “The more you have, the happier you are.”

This is a rollicking adventure for 8–13 year-old readers who love a bit of the fantastical (“Middle Grade, Fantasy with themes of family, anti-materialism, empathy and emotional intelligence,” according to the publisher’s note). The book creatively presents the idea that connecting to our Parts and to each other is fulfilling. And it challenges and explores the idea of happiness itself.

Semma starts to question people’s assumptions and discovers a group of community outcasts called “downers,” who don’t buy into the dominant paradigm (literally). She also begins to see snippets of people’s real feelings and Parts, aspects that everyone seems unwilling to reveal to others or themselves. But it’s not until she connects with “the spark of light that is [her] core”—her Self energy—that Semma is able to help others awaken from their trance, reconnect with their Parts, and transform.

Semma is surprised to observe: “I saw a fog surrounding every person below. Many of them were crying. I turned the binoculars on Uncle Bumbrain. He was weeping. This time I knew I was seeing inside him, not outside.”