Synopses & Reviews
Max Weston, twenty-one and a newly commissioned lance corporal, leaves home for his first posting in central Africa. Fiercely patriotic and a natural leader, he is eager to make a difference.
He never comes back.
His parents, Caroline and Andrew, are devastated by the death of their only child. Their grief threatens to overwhelm their marriage until the empty space between them is filled by the arrival of Andrews ninety-eight-year-old mother, Elsa. Always elegant, cutting and critical of Caroline, the old woman is now disabled and disoriented. As she lies in the spare room, the past unspools in Elsas mind, loosening fragments of her anxious childhood with her mercurial father, who returned from the Great War a changed man.
Under one roof, the Westons come to understand each other in new ways, and the domestic stories of multiple generations coalesce into a potent exploration of the legacies of war and love.
Review
“A beautifully crafted novel of love, loss and self-forgiveness.” —Kirkus “Day captures nuances in the relationships between her well-drawn, fallible characters, focusing on one after the other in nonchronological chapters that constitute a vivid mosaic of grief and aging. A moving family portrait.” —Booklist
Synopsis
A stunning portrait of a family bookended by war, Home Fires explores the legacy of loss, the strictures of class, and the long road to redemption.
About the Author
Elizabeth Day is an award-winning British journalist who has worked for the Evening Standard, the Sunday Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, and is now a feature writer for the Observer. Her first novel, Scissors, Paper, Stone, was published in the UK and won a Betty Trask Award. Home Fires marks her U.S. debut. Day grew up in Northern Ireland, and currently lives in London with her husband. Visit her website at www.elizabethdayonline.co.uk.