After the Fire

Five women at critical crossroads in their lives come together in this gem of a novel set on an island off the coast of Vancouver ? After the Fire introduces a quintet of very different women as they struggle with abandonment, loss, and new beginnings?both together and alone. ? There is Karen Tasuki, who recently separated from her partner and wonders if she?ll ever get used to being alone . . . until she befriends Red, who cleans houses for the island?s privileged inhabitants. Miss James is the eccentric Southern spinster born at the turn of the century. Milly Forbes is a woman whose husband ?went scot free after stealing twenty years of her life.? And the sensible Henrietta ?Hen? Hawkins yearns for her absent, ill husband. ? ? On a rural island that they dub a ?used-wife lot,? the five heroines nurture one another as they cope with loneliness, death, and renewed life. Imbued with wit and compassion, After the Fire is a novel about women loving women and women helping women?and the bond that transcends age, race, and even gender.