Summary | Excerpt | Reading Guide | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
"They say money doesn't grow on trees, but it does when one's talking about bananas." In a Costa Rican town called Barrio Ávila in 1968, a fire decimates the banana plantation run by the American Fruit Company. The same night the blaze is set, José María Sánchez murders his mother-in-law, Amarga Cepeda Valverde, and disappears, never to be seen again by his wife Teresa or their twin daughters, Lyra and Carmen. Almost thirty years later, Teresa and Lyra are estranged, Carmen is dead, and no one is any closer to understanding what made José María commit this unspeakable crime.
We learn in the first chapter of Where There Was Fire that Teresa's grandmother, believed to be a witch, passed down to her a particular piece of wisdom: "Men are the devils, and women the saints. And every woman is born with a sharp machete inside her heart. She must learn to wield ...
BookBrowse's reviews and "beyond the book" articles are part of the many benefits of membership and, thus, are generally only available to subscribers, including individual members and patrons of libraries that subscribe.
Join TodayIf you liked Where There Was Fire, try these:
A sweeping, evocative debut novel following three generations of Vietnamese American women reeling from the death of their matriarch, revealing the family's inherited burdens, buried secrets, and unlikely love stories.
From a stunning new voice, comes a powerful debut novel, Perish, about a Black Texan family, exploring the effects of inherited trauma and intergenerational violence as the family comes together to say goodbye to their matriarch on her deathbed.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.