Things We Set on Fire

A series of tragedies brings Vivvie's young grandchildren into her custody, and her two estranged daughters back under one roof. Jackson, Vivvie’s husband, was shot and killed thirty years ago, and the ramifications have splintered the family into their own isolated remembrances and recriminations.

Sisters Elin and Kate fought mercilessly in childhood and have avoided each other for years. Elin seems like the last person to watch her sister convalesce after an attempted suicide. But Elin has her own reasons for coming to Kate's side and will soon discover Kate’s own staggering needs.

This deeply personal, hauntingly melancholy look at the damages families inflict on each other―and the healing that only they can provide―is filled with flinty, flawed, and complex people stumbling toward some kind of peace. Like Elizabeth Strout and Kazuo Ishiguro, Deborah Reed understands a story, and its inhabitants reveal themselves in the subtleties: the space between the thoughts, the sigh behind the smile, and the unreliable lies people tell themselves that ultimately reveal the deepest truths.

Deborah Reed is the author of the novel Carry Yourself Back to Me, a Best Book of 2011 Amazon Editors’ Pick. She is also the author of the bestselling thriller A Small Fortune and its sequel, Fortune’s Deadly Descent, written under the pen name Audrey Braun. All three novels have been translated or are forthcoming in German. Deborah holds a master of fine arts in creative writing (fiction) and teaches at UCLA’s Extension Writing Program, as well as workshops and conferences around the United States and in Europe. She lives in Los Angeles, California.