The Fires: A Remarkable First Novel of Pyromania, Obsession, and a Love That Could Save Her

Steinke, Rene

ISBN 10: 0688175848 / ISBN 13: 9780688175849

Published by William Morrow Paperbacks, 2000

About this Item

Item in very good condition! Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc.

Seller Inventory # 00096769831

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Fires: A Remarkable First Novel of Pyromania, Obsession, and a Love That Could Save Her
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0688175848
• ISBN 13: 9780688175849
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

Smoke has as many different scents as skin. Part of the pleasure is not knowing what it will be -- sulfurous or closer to incense or airier and sweeter as I imagine the smell of clouds.

Ella is a connoisseur of fire, a woman enthralled by it as other women are by love. She savors the seductive promise of a spark, the caress of a curling wisp of smoke, the all-consuming hunger of a spreading blaze. Ella's heart seethes with a rage that can be spoken only with tongues of flame.

In her remarkable first novel, Rene Steinke has created a narrator so lyrical and lucid in her madness as to raise the book to the level of romance. Trapped in a sleepy Indiana town, torn by inner demons that drive her to pyromania and promiscuity, Ella is at once entirely original and unforgettably real.

As she struggles to come to terms with her family's tormented past and her own uncertain future, she draws the mesmerized reader ever deeper into her scorched soul, revealing a sensuality that will spiral into final, fiery destruction -- unless it can be quenched by love.

About the Author

René Steinke is the author of The Fires. She is the editor in chief of The Literary Review and teaches creative writing at Fairleigh Dickinson University. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.