It is the summer of 1947. Grace lives on the coast of Maine. She is 5 months pregnant and has two young children. Her best friend, Rosie lives next door to her and also has two children. The summer has been dry and hot perfect conditions for for the wildfires that are raging along the coast. Grace and Rosie's husbands are out fighting the fire when it reaches them. They are left to fend for themselves and have to use their wit in order to survive and keep their children safe. They watch as their homes burn to the ground with only the ocean to keep them alive. Grace barley survives, her husband is unaccounted for and now she needs to find shelter and a way to provide for her and her children.
Grace finds bravery within herself and slowly manages to find unimaginable freedoms then everything she has built starts to fall apart when the unexpected happens.
The Great Fires of 1947 (also known as October Fury) is a real even that occurred. It took place between October 13 and October 27. Over 220,000 acres were burned and nearly 1,000 homes were destroyed. Shreve's writing pulled me back to the fires that took place in San Diego in 2003. I could smell the smoke in the air, visualize the thickness of the air and feel the heat. I could see the blazing orange/red of the sun and picture the apocalyptic setting.
Good writing has a way of bringing back memories and creating new feelings. I haven't experienced any of the traumatic events that took place for Grace but I could imagine them because the writing pulled me into the characters emotions. This might be Shreve's best book to date despite the melancholic feelings left behind.
