The Stars are Fire

Author(s): Anita Shreve

Fiction

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLERWashington Post 50 Notable Works of Fiction 2017   From the New York Times best-selling author of The Weight of Water and The Pilot's Wife (an Oprah's Book Club selection): an exquisitely suspenseful new novel about an extraordinary young woman tested by a catastrophic event--based on the true story of the largest fire in Maine's history   In October 1947, Grace Holland is experiencing two simultaneous droughts. An unseasonably hot, dry summer has turned the state of Maine into a tinderbox, and Grace and her husband, Gene, have fallen out of love and barely speak. Five months pregnant and caring for two toddlers, Grace has resigned herself to a life of loneliness and domestic chores. One night she awakes to find that wildfires are racing down the coast, closer and closer to her house. Forced to pull her children into the ocean to escape the flames, Grace watches helplessly as everything she knows burns to the ground. By morning, her life is forever changed: she is homeless, penniless, awaiting news of her husband's fate, and left to face an uncertain future in a town that no longer exists. With courage and stoicism, Grace overcomes devastating loss and, through the smoke, is able to glimpse the opportunity to rewrite her own story.

As reviewed in our May newsletter:


Centered around the historic true event of the catastrophic disaster of 1947 when a severe drought caused fires to rage uncontrollably through Maine devastating and burning homes to the ground leaving thousands homeless and 16 dead.
Grace Holland is alone with her two children, her husband Gene out voluntarily helping to fight the fires. With the speed of the fire catching them unawares at night she flees along with her neighbour Rosie down the sea where they lie in the freezing water until they are rescued in the morning. Without any word or whereabouts of her husband she is taken into care by an older couple until she is well enough to consider what next. Along with her mother they move into the prestigious home of her mother-in-law recently deceased, a woman who never liked her. She begins to rebuild her life , her independence and finds a happiness that was missing while married to Gene. Until one day things change and she is put to the test as never before.
I'm sure all Anita Shreve fans will enjoy this latest book. Christine


 

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Product Information

Delicate, poignant storytelling Good Housekeeping

Anita Shreve is the acclaimed author of seventeen novels, including Rescue, A Change in Altitude, Testimony, andThe Pilot's Wife, which was a selection of Oprah's Book Club. She lives in Massachusetts.

General Fields

  • : 9781408702994
  • : Little, Brown Book Group Limited
  • : Sphere
  • : 0.335
  • : 01 March 2017
  • : 234mm X 153mm
  • : United Kingdom
  • : 01 May 2017
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Anita Shreve
  • : Paperback
  • : 1
  • : en
  • : 813.6
  • : very good
  • : 320