The fire-dwellers

Stacey MacAindra is smart, witty, brave, and a bit desperate. Her marriage, her four children, and her happiness seem to be threatened by everything from well-meaning neighbors to her own sudden impulses for adventure. Her apparently staid suburban life involves an appalling abduction, strange romance, sudden death, and unexpected appearances by characters from other novels in the Manawaka series. Through all of this she somehow endures, and her story helps us to rediscover the richness and terror of the commonplace, as well as the pain, beauty - and humor - of being alive.