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You may already be familiar with some of the fanfare associated with Shirley Hazzard's novel The Great Fire, as it was her first novel in twenty years. Aldred Leith is one of those living in what's left of the Pacific Theatre in the years immediately following WWII, a region beginning to teem once again after surviving the unspeakable (though, try as they may, unforgettable) events of the war culminating in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Despite all of that, there is still love to be had that, while fragile, serves to foster new life, hope, and even joy.