Review: The Stars Are Fire

The Stars Are Fire by Anita Shreve
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It is always good to learn history and this story is a retell of the great fire in Maine in 1947.

This is how the story opens. A young couple, Grace and Gene, is getting on its feet with two small children. The story opens during the rainy season and the housewives are having a hard time to just get the clothes dried and everything is constantly damp. Spring and then summer arrives with the lovely weather. But as time goes on the heat becomes unbearable and eventually everything is tinder dry.

Fires start and Gene is called to go and help, leaving Grace with the small children. As the fire approaches, Grace packs as much as she can for survival into her baby pram, gets her good friend and neighbour, Rosie and her children and head for the beach. They are so close to the fire that they wade into the water, with the children, get blankets wet and submerge into the water making air pockets for the children. They are there many hours until they are rescued.

All the houses have been burned to the ground and a lot of people are missing.

An excellent read.