Home Fires
Fiona Lowe
Sophie’s wish to stay home with the kids in a beautiful custom built home is grounded when she finds herself living in a metal shed after a set of devastating fires sweep through the town of Myrtle. Meanwhile Claire is facing the realities of losing her parents from the same disaster, while Bec lost a dream. Craft group gives them a chance to get to know one another better, but can they face up to their losses and be honest? Or will the dirty little secrets of their town get the better of them.
At the very beginning of this novel I was bewildered by the number of characters that I was going to have to keep track of. I thought of drawing a mind-map in fact! Slowly though I kept track of the three main women and their important connections – Sophie, Claire and Bec. I generally enjoyed the past interspersed with the present, and found that although the past parts could have been excluded, they added a depth to the current day fears of the women (and men).
I’m not certain this novel gives men enough credit. It seems that the women are the ones moving on with their lives, while the men are hanging in the past. I found myself slightly unsatisfied with the jump forward in time and thus abrupt ending to the novel. I found it hard to believe that Josh went from coping and enjoying a full time job to barely holding down a part-time position. However, my knowledge of PTSD limited at best. I can only imagine that this highly experienced author did her own research and brought the novel to its logical (in her mind) conclusion).
Those familiar with Ash Wednesday and Black Saturday will recognize the sober commentary on the unpreparedness of the Myrtle township for the impending doom of the fires. The town and its people are not warned in advance, in in fact their firefighting capacity is dealing with other fires. I’d recommend this novel for anyone interested in the fires of Marysville, or fires in general. It’s a touching novel that has an important place in Australian fiction. 4 stars from me.
HQ Fiction | 18th February 2019 | AU$32.99 | paperback
Do I actually see this ‘cruel and bloody fist’ of Lord Endrick? Nope, I do not. All I see is simple Kestra getting simple revenge on her captors, and them having revenge on her. While there was potential for intrigue, instead I felt like Kestra was holding all the cards and the reader didn’t know enough to actually imagine what was happening behind the scenes. In fact, I felt that Kestra was particularly slow in working out what was going on (even with really clear clues).
Shalia is a decent enough character who is determined to stand on her own two feet. However, sometimes this just doesn’t work for her. I felt confused that sometimes she stood up for herself against Calix, but the rest of the time she didn’t. Do you have the power or not Shalia? She seems to have faith in the power of marriage even as she subverts it. I didn’t understand her well enough to get what she really meant.
Ugh, take me back to the older style Elemental Master’s series! I don’t care that they were ‘just’ re-imagined fairy-tales. Yes yes, it’s important that the psychics and the clairvoyants (and Celtic Warriors) get airtime (readtime?) but give me some air elementals any day. None of the other Elemental Masters get more than one novel devoted to them, so why should Nan and Sarah (3 books and counting)?
The thing for me about this novel was the pacing. It was just so incredibly slow! I figured that the three perspective would end up together eventually, but that ‘eventually’ wasn’t until the end of the novel (trust me, I haven’t spoiled it for you). The multiple perspectives worked against the suspense in this novel. Despite the blurb being very keen to state that there is a price on Hatu’s head, and the Hidden ones ulterior motives, I didn’t feel a sense of danger.
This is a lighthearted romance with a spot of dog-loving thrown in! Cora’s a likable enough character who creates laughter with her descriptions of dogs-gone-wrong. There are sad parts to the novel too, but nothing particularly cry worthy. If you’re looking for a beach-side read, this novel could be it. This novel is decidedly chaste, so don’t go looking for sex scenes.
I read about half this novel while waiting for the action to begin. I’m sorry, I just don’t find it that entertaining that she forgot nipple pads, and whether breast milk has DNA in it. I continued reading after a month or two had passed and still felt underwhelmed. The ending promised to have a little more action in it, but in the end it felt rushed and unfinished. I needed significantly more shadowing throughout the novel to feel convinced about the betrayals…
The blurb promises that Simon will have to hunt for his teacher, but the majority of the novel is really about getting to know Simon and understand his relationship with the world. I actually really enjoyed Simon’s unique perspective. It’s exactly how I would imagine thoughts to be of a mildly autistic child (in my limited, and purely academic knowledge that is). I liked each of the small parts that came together to understand his worldview, and how he saw other people and imagined his insides reacting to different situations.