LoveReading Says
Spanning 27 years, Where There Was Fire — John Manuel Arias’ Costa Rica-set debut — tells the stirring story of a mother and daughter’s movement through tragedy, loss and estrangement to a sense of reconciliation. Underpinned by the corrupt practices of colonial companies, and glowing with magic realist elements, it’s a poetic, thought-provoking novel that also packs political punch.
In 1968, a fire at the American Fruit Company’s most profitable banana plantation also set Teresa’s family alight, changing its course in profound, irrevocable ways. After suffering terrible loss through death and the disappearance of her husband, Teresa moved to America, leaving her young daughters in the care of friends for some years.
27 years on, we meet one of her daughters, Lyra, who’s estranged from Teresa as the latter approaches her sixtieth birthday. At the same time, Lyra longs to know what really happened on the fatefull night of the fire. Mystery, secrets and a sense of ancestral spirits simmer and sway as corrupt cover-ups come to light, as the two women wrestle with truths, forgiveness, grief and finding ways to heal.
Joanne Owen
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Where There Was Fire Synopsis
Where there was fire, ashes remain . . .
Costa Rica, 1968.
A deadly fire rips through the American Fruit Company's most lucrative banana plantation, destroying all evidence of a massive cover-up.
That same night, Teresa Cepeda Valverde's mother is murdered, and her husband vanishes into the darkness.
Decades later, as a hurricane twists through the streets of Barrio Ávila, Teresa's estranged daughter Lyra begins to piece together the mysteries lost in the blaze. In her desire to find the truth of her own family's rupture, she uncovers a web of devastating betrayals, stoked by machismo, jealousy and greed.
Where There Was Fire brims with ancestral spirits, omens and the forces of nature. John Manuel Arias's extraordinary debut novel weaves a brilliant tapestry of love - lost and found again - and, ultimately, redemption.
'A haunting, operatic saga of family, history and place. . . An utterly original, unforgettable tale of family that will sear a place in the reader's soul' - Xochitl Gonzalez, bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming
'An ambitious debut novel . . . The combination of legend and dream sequences, characters spellbound by hallucinations, toxic odours and huge cane toads, adds to the sense of a society ill at ease with nature and itself' - Times Literary Supplement
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John Manuel Arias Press Reviews
A lush and ambitious debut . . . An exciting new voice with a prowess for lyricism - Publishers Weekly
Every page is a masterclass in how to wrap a reader inside of a book. Simply put, this book will make you want to re-read it just to spend more time with the writing. - Debutiful
A haunting, operatic saga of family, history and place. Where There Was Fire beautifully braids love, lust, magic and the destructive power of man to wondrous and, at times, heartbreaking effect. Arias has created an utterly original, unforgettable tale of family that will sear a place in the reader's soul -- Xochitl Gonzalez, bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming
An arresting tale of love, regret, and redemption. John Manuel Arias offers a searing look into the legacy of American agribusiness in Costa Rica and masterfully tells the story of a family fighting to put itself back together in the wake of unimaginable loss. As poetic as it is powerful, Where There Was Fire burns with rage and grief, and most of all, hope -- Jenny Tinghui Zhang, author of Four Treasures of the Sky -