Book Review: When fire ravages the town of Myrtle, lives are fractured

The small town of Myrtle, in Victoria’s Otway Ranges and its surrounding fire-prone farmlands, is the setting for Home Fires by bestselling author Fiona Lowe.

The Country Fire Authority (CFA) is at the heart of this community. However, its community members provide the beat and soul of this village that has been all but destroyed by the ravaging fire that swept through it with incredible ferocity and speed. So many people lost their lives.

I am enraptured by the smattering of humour a few pages in.

The subject matter is a plethora of personal and heart-rending accounts, however, in the beginning, I have trouble getting my head around the number of characters as well as their relationships; I realise that most of my problem is the way in which the story unfolds.

The first six rather short chapters are in eighty-eight pages. In this time the storyline swaps from the present to one year before the fires, to the present, to one year before the fires, to three months after the fire including the present, to the year before the fires and then to six months after the fires (chapter seven). As well as swapping in time the personal stories of the many characters also swap.

Claire is now single and returning to Myrtle for Christmas. Julie has a son Hugo, Claire’s age. Various families have expectations as Claire and Hugo were friends years ago. Claire meets Matt at a CFA function. She gets the ‘tingles’ at their first meeting and goes off with him for a drive to the beach. I found this rather unbelievable but it is modern times!

Claire later finds that Matt is practically engaged to Taylor. Yeah, I cheer, serves her right! Then I realise that the author has successfully established feelings in this reader.

Rebecca is married to Adam, well-known for his heroic rescue of two men in the fires at the cost of severe burns to his face. They have two girls.

Sophie and Matt are a quarrelsome couple with one child Liam (at the time of our meeting them). They are moving to Myrtle and Sophie is pregnant. They are saving to buy their first home. Sophie is safely back in Melbourne for the birth of their baby on the night of the fires.

Julie and Phil lost their adult son in the firestorm; she is unwavering in her commitment to putting Myrtle back on its feet. Julie also lost her best friend Heather (who was also mother to Claire). Claire stays on in Myrtle and leads the establishment of a craft group affiliated with the CWA. Its playful name of Bitch and Stitch is just so appropriate. If ever there were some nasty women in a group this is it. Author Fiona Lowe has this down pat.

Fiona, to me, changes her style of writing about halfway through, with longer chapters and memories of survivors popping up in a more logical way. (Still going back and forth in time but more coherently; or have I got to know the characters?) I am harsh in my judgement of many of the men so cleverly depicted as weak or authoritarian, possessive, cruel, selfish, manipulative, or concealers of truth. They are not alone in the latter. The women too have secrets and fears.

I became completely immersed and couldn’t stop reading as so many characters unravel to one another, to the community and to the law. Yes, they all had problems and shortcomings before the fires but understanding and endeavour along with human kindness, truth and support can heal.

A cleverly told interwoven plot that has a most satisfying finale. A book for all who enjoy stories close to home.

Home Fires by Fiona Lowe is available in printed and digital editions from the publisher HQ Fiction.