黑料福利社

On the night of June 10, 2022, a young couple鈥檚 house goes up in flames.

April and Leo and their two children make it out alive, but their home, their shelter and their future are profoundly altered, and not just by the fire.

Earlier that night, Leo had told his wife that he wanted a divorce while she was cooking dinner. Understandably, the news had shaken her and made her forget to turn the stove off.

That catastrophe sets the story in motion in Sarah Damoff鈥檚 novel 鈥淭he Burning Side.鈥�

The couple and their kids move in with April鈥檚 parents and younger siblings, keeping their awkward secret while trying to chart a course forward.

The children, Sadie and baby Otto, deal with the trauma in their own way. April鈥檚 parents, Deb and Billy, are welcoming and supportive, and keeping their own secrets that are about to come out.

Billy has early-onset Alzheimer鈥檚, and it鈥檚 becoming harder to hide his condition as his failing memory causes him to say some indiscreet things about the family鈥檚 early history.

The story is told primarily through the perspectives of April, Leo and Deb. We get glimpses into their backgrounds, their inner lives and the reasons they have for the choices they make.

There are no villains in this story. Even Leo鈥檚 biological father, who left him when he was very young, is eventually offered redemption by the end.

The book is broken into four sections: 鈥淪parks,鈥� 鈥淔lame,鈥� 鈥淪moke鈥� and 鈥淓mbers.鈥�

The fire and its aftermath are a story of how a series of small mistakes cascade, and how people cope, make choices and adapt in the face of catastrophe.

In some ways, given the date of the fire, it could be read as a metaphor for a nation emerging from the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. If only we had handled it as well.

Texas is the setting, and it comes through in parts of the book. I enjoy stories that have a strong sense of place to them.

Damoff's previous book, 鈥淭he Bright Years,鈥� was also set in Texas, and I think fans of 鈥淔riday Night Lights鈥� would probably appreciate a lot about this book.

It鈥檚 a meditation on the importance of home and family in navigating situations where one person acting on their own would have a much harder time finding their bearings.

On holding on. On letting go.

I won鈥檛 reveal the choices made by the end of the book, but if you鈥檙e looking for a sad but hopeful read that shows how our fallibility is part of our humanity, I鈥檇 recommend "The Burning Side."