LoveReading Says
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
Costa Rica, 1968. When a lethal fire erupts at the American Fruit Company’s most lucrative banana plantation burning all evidence of a massive cover-up, the future of Teresa Cepeda Valverde’s family is changed for ever.
Now, twenty-seven years later, Teresa and her daughter Lyra are still picking up the pieces. Lyra wants nothing to do with Teresa, but is desperate to find out what happened to her family that fateful night. Teresa, haunted by a missing husband and the bitter ghost of her mother, is unable to reconcile the past. What unfolds is a story of a mother and daughter trying to forgive what they do not yet understand, and the mystery at the heart of one family’s rupture, steeped in 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.
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Press Reviews
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 -
