Wild FiresWild Fires

The only things Cassandra knows about her family are the stories she's heard in snatches over the years: about the aunt and cousin she never got to meet, about the man from the folded-up photograph in one of her aunt's drawers, and of course about her cousin Chevy, and his troubled past - but no one utters a word about them anymore. When a call from one of her sisters brings Cassandra news of Chevy's death, she has to return home for the funeral. To Toronto and the big house on Florence Street, where her sisters are hiding more than themselves in their rooms, where the tension brewing between her mother and aunts has been decades in the making, and where sooner or later every secret, unspoken word and painful memory will find its way out into the open. Moving between Toronto and Trinidad, Wild Fires is a vivid and compelling story exploring the ways we mourn and why we avoid the very things that can save us. - WINNER of The Borough Press BAME Open Submission 2019 with The Good Literary Agency - A powerful, lyrical and vivid portrayal of a family undone by grief, betrayal and regret - The astonishing first novel from former Curtis Brown Creative student, Sophie Jai - Perfect for fans of Jesmyn Ward, Tayari Jones and Brit Bennett - Sophie is mentored by The Good Immigrant editor and author, Nikesh Shukla Competition: The Vanishing Half;Salvage the Bones;Girl Woman Other;Home Fire;Milkman;Ordinary People;Exit West;The Dutch House;An American Marriage;A Little Life. by Brit Benntt;Jesmyn Ward;Bernardine Evaristo;Kamila Shamsie;Anna Burns;Diana Evans;Mohsin Hamid;Ann Patchett;Tayari Jones;Hanya Yanagihara;Jean Rhys.