What Burns Away

December 15, 2014
Depressed new mom gives in to her latent teenage-arsonist tendencies and her first love. In Field's first novel, former climatologist Claire Spruce is having trouble adjusting to her new life. Her husband, Miles, took a career-changing job and moved the family from Connecticut to snowy Madison, Wisconsin. Claire is in love with Jonah, their miracle baby, but the life of a housewife, especially in a new city, is just not satisfying. Unable to express her dissatisfaction, she falls into a depression that is temporarily alleviated by reconnecting with Dean, the older boy who loved her through a traumatic adolescence. Dean is newly single and still living in their hometown. In fact, he's living in the house previously owned by her mother's second husband, the one that holds many painful memories for Claire. Dean knows her secrets and can offer her understanding and attention, everything she's not getting from busy Miles. Claire's depression is palpable, but that doesn't make her passivity easier to read about. And while her actions do have consequences, in some ways, she gets off scot-free. Still, this makes for interesting reading.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)