ASH MOUNTAIN by Helen Fitzgerald

 

So many Australian authors in the last few years placing the harsh drought-ridden and tinder-dry landscape at the center of the story. Those devastating bush fires that Australia deals with every summer touch something very primal in us human beings, any story taking on an extra edge with out of control fires lurking.  Here is another novel where daily life happens against the backdrop of a terrible fire. Daily lives like we all live, but fortunate enough not to have a fire threatening to take all that away - family, friends, pets, homes, businesses. 

In this quite short and easy to read novel, Fran is returning, unwillingly, to her home town Ash Mountain. Her father is quite unwell and there is no one else to care for him. She has two children - a grown up son who lives in the town, and a  teenage daughter who she shares custody with her ex partner, Vincent. Fran's return to her childhood town, home, school, neighbourhood dredges up far too many memories, rekindles old friendships and relationships. And the fire of course which changes everything. The plot moves around very frequently between the past and over the days before the fire. Despite the jumping around, it is easy to read and the chapters are short!  

The writing is very good, characters well developed. Fran herself is very real having to juggle her daughter and her father, she is at a low ebb having thrown in her job, her relationship. No one likes moving home, and Fran feels exactly how we would all feel - instantly relatable! Tension is tightly held with the looming fire, the fragility of relationships, the chance to make amends for past mistakes. The fire is terrifying by the way.