Who By Fire

WHO BY FIRE

Who By Fire by Diana Sprechler is her first novel. I can’t wait to read more of her work! The book is about a family and the tragedy of a six year old little girl missing. Bits and Ash were children when their younger sister, Alena, was kidnapped. How each member of the family dealt with the tragedy is extremely well presented in the book. It portrays the grief and desperation of a mother, and the confusion and guilt of the children. And, in its own way, tells how the father dealt with the grief issues in a healthy way. Ash has always blamed himself for the incident and grew up to grasp at Orthodox Jewish religion, breaking communication with the family and moving to Israel, playing out another disappearance to deal with for the family. Bits has gone on as a rather lost girl, becoming promiscuous at an early age, and going off with any man trying to find herself.

Thirteen years after Alena’s kidnapping, her mother calls Bits to tell her that Alena’s remains have been found and she wants Bits and Ash to return home for a memorial service. Bits sets off to find Ash.

I’m not telling anymore about the book! You really need to read it! It is about family tragedy, resilience, religion, and love. Each chapter is narrated by one of the three main characters, which makes it very easy to read.

As a side note, at the end of the book there is conversation with the author where she answers questions and discusses the writing of the novel. She mentions frequently two of her good friends in the conversation and one of the friend’s names is “Aryn”. I mentioned it to my daughter Maggie and she asked where the author went to school. I told her Montana and she said then that has to be Aryn Kyle, our friend who wrote The God of Animals! Then as I turned the book over, there on the front cover, is a quote about this novel by Aryn Kyle! Who knew that Montana had such wonderful writers!






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