The Book of Fire

In the dramatic latest from Lefteri (Songbirds), a Greek community deals with the aftermath of an out-of-control fire. Music teacher Irini Diamandis survived the blaze with her daughter Chara and artist husband Tasso. They live in Tasso’s father’s house, which was spared by the fire, but Tasso is nearly catatonic, and Chara and Irini are caught in loops of anxiety. On a walk through the ravaged land, Irini comes across real estate developer Michael Trachonides, who intended to burn five acres adjacent to the neighborhood but lost control of the blaze. Michael, who is sitting on the ground against a tree, has a rope around his neck and is barely breathing. Irini panics and flees, only to return later and find him dead. Unsure if he was lynched or had hanged himself, she hesitates to call the police, but Tasso convinces her she must. Lefteri shapes the plot with elegant subtlety, portraying the questions about Michael’s death as a nagging uncertainty rather than a lurid mystery. Irini’s lyrical narration details her family’s harrowing experience of the blaze and takes measure of how it “turned to ashes the people we once were.” This hits hard. Agent: Marianne Gunn O’Connor, Marianne Gunn O’Connor Literary. (Jan.)