TUESDAY EXCERPTS: “HOME FIRES”

 

Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events: First Chapter/Intros, now hosted by Socrates Book Reviews; and Teaser Tuesdays hosted by The Purple Booker.

Today’s feature is a relatively new book:  Home Fires, by Fiona Lowe.

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Intro: 

The scent of the rainforest—leaf mulch, mud and a spritz of eucalyptus—prickled Claire’s nostrils.  A fine mist settled over her, the chill sneaking around the tops of her woolen socks and skating along her bones.

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Teaser:

Bec couldn’t remember exactly how or when she’d arrived at the hospital and she didn’t care.  There’d been road blocks and police cars and changing arrangements but none of it mattered. Nothing mattered when a nightmare of unfathomable dimensions had caught her up in its web. (44%).

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Synopsis:

When a deadly wildfire tears through Myrtle, nestled along Australia’s breathtaking Great Ocean Road, the town’s buildings — and the lives of its residents — are left as smoldering ash. Eighteen months later, Myrtle stands restored, shiny and new. But is the outside polish just a veneer? 

For four women in particular, the fire fractured their lives and their relationships. Julie thinks tourism could bring some financial stability to their town and soon prods Claire, Bec and Sophie into joining her community group. 

But the scars of trauma run deep and as secrets emerge and each woman faces the damage the wildfire wrought, a shocking truth will emerge that will shake the town to its newly rebuilt foundations… 

With her sharp eye for human flaws, bestselling author Fiona Lowe writes an evocative tale of everyday people fighting for themselves, their families and their town.  

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I am eager to read this one.  What do you think?

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