The Arsonist
The brilliant novel from the bestselling author of Monogamy
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- USD 9.99
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- USD 9.99
Publisher Description
'Brilliant' THE TIMES
'A finely observed study of identity and belonging' MAIL ON SUNDAY
Fleeing the end of an affair, and troubled by the feeling that she belongs nowhere after working in East Africa for fifteen years, Frankie Rowley comes home to the small New Hampshire town of Pomeroy and the farmhouse where her family has always summered.
On her first night back, a house up the road burns to the ground. Is it an accident, or something more deliberate?
During the following weeks, as Frankie comes to recognise her father's slow failing and her mother's desperation, and tentatively gets to know the new owner of the local newspaper, another house burns - and then another. These frightening events crack open the deep social fault lines in the town, raising questions about how and where one ought to live, and what it really means to lead a fulfilling life.
What readers are saying about The Arsonist:
'A stonking good read'
'A treat'
'I love Sue Miller and would recommend any of her books; she is a tremendous writer'
'I could not put it down'
'A lovely narrative that will never leave me. Five stars'
'I loved every page'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A small New Hampshire town provides the backdrop for Miller's (The Senator's Wife) provocative novel about the boundaries of relationships and the tenuous alliance between locals and summer residents when a crisis is at hand. After years of being an aid worker in Africa, Frankie Rowley returns to the idyllic Pomeroy, N.H., summer home to which her parents have retired. But all is not well in Pomeroy, where a spate of house fires leaves everyone wary and afraid. Frankie, who may have seen the arsonist her first night home, contemplates her ambiguous future and falls for Bud Jacobs, a transplant who has traded the hustle and bustle of covering politics in D.C. for the security of smalltown life, buying the local newspaper. Meanwhile, Sylvia, Frankie's mother, becomes concerned about her husband's increasingly erratic behavior, fearful that it's a harbinger of Alzheimer's. Liz, Frankie's married sister, has her hands full dealing with their parents while Frankie's been overseas. Miller, a pro at explicating family relationships as well as the fragile underpinnings of mature romance, brilliantly draws parallels between Frankie's world in Africa and her life in New Hampshire, and explores how her characters define what "home" means to them and the lengths they will go to protect it.
