Who By Fire by Diana SpechlerHarper Perennial 2008
An excellent story about a family who suffered an unresolved loss of a child some years before and how each copes with it over time. The son has joined a strict Orthodox group in Israel and his sister is sent to try and bring him home for a family funeral. Their mother is considering an intervention for him as she views his actions as the equivalent of belonging to a cult. It's well-written, with empathy and humour. Four and a half stars. Highly recommended.
I received my copy from Jennifer at Book Club Girl and participated in her interview with Diana on Blog Talk Radio on November 20. Jennifer is a good interviewer. I recommend listening to the broadcast after reading the novel as there is an inadvertent spoiler in it.
Diana herself is a gracious and easy going author. She recently wote a guest post here at Melody's Reading Corner that's quite humourous. She also thanked me just for mentioning her book as one I intended to read for Jewish Book Month. I wish every book I read was as good as Who By Fire. I can't recommend it enough.
Boston Bibliophile has also posted a very nice and more comprehensive review of the book here that may interest you.
Feel free to leave comments or links to comments or reviews about Who By Fire and I will add them to the body of this post.
What have you read that's really good in literary fiction?
