An Invisible Sign of My OwnBy: Aimee Bender Aimee Benders stunning debut collection, The Girl in the Flammable Skirt, proved her to be one of the freshest voices in American fiction. Now, in her first novel, she builds on that early promise. Mona Gray was ten when her father contracted a mysterious illness and she became a quitter, abandoning each of her talents just as pleasure became intense. The only thing she cant stop doing is math: She knocks on wood, adds her steps, and