You Want to Learn More about Wildfires

Are craving a thriller or adore a spunky heroine

Hi friends,

Google informed me that this past weekend marked the 366^th anniversary of the beginning of the concept of afternoon tea. I will use the opportunity to share my favorite scone recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction. The secret — I’ve learned — is to shred frozen butter.

And, now, what to read if…

You Got a Crash Course in Wildfires Last Week

Paradise by Lizzie Johnson

Those of us on the East Coast of the United States experienced what people in the West have been living with for their lifetimes last week — smoke from wildfires descending on our communities. Here in D.C., it smelled a bit like all my neighbors decided to grill on the same day. The photos sent by my family in upstate New York, where the air quality was twice as bad as in NYC, featured eerie yellow skies.

The whole experience reminded me of Paradise, journalist Lizzie Johnson’s definitive account of the 2018 Camp Fire in California. It’s a devastating but crucial book about one of the deadliest fires in American history. Drawing on more than 500 interviews, Johnson brings to life the people affected by the disaster, from the fire chief leading the response effort to a woman who gave birth to her premature baby the night before the hospital was evacuated, leaving them both without medical care.

Johnson carefully examines the causes of the fire, noting that while Pacific Gas & Electric pled guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter for deaths caused by the flames and smoke, many overlapping factors compounded the tragedy. It’s hard to say I enjoy a book like Paradise — it’s crushing — but I’m in awe of the depth of the reporting and glad I read it.

Bingo boxes this book checks: debut

You Think Summer is Thriller Season

Find Me by Alafair Burke

As the weather gets warmer, I find myself gravitating towards twisty thrillers I can throw in my bag and bring to the pool. If you have a similar inclination, you’ll want to get a copy of Alafair Burke’s Find Me ASAP.

Fifteen years ago, a woman arrived in a small New Jersey town with no memories or sense of her identity. Doctors expected she’d heal from the amnesia, but she never did. Instead, she adopted the name Hope Miller and made a home for herself in the community that nursed her back to health. After a decade and a half, Hope is feeling itchy and decides to move to East Hampton, New York, much to the chagrin of her best friend Lindsay Kelly, a high-powered Manhattan defense attorney. When Hope vanishes from her new home — and blood found at the last place she was seen is connected to a notorious serial killer —Lindsay teams up with an NYPD officer to find her friend and uncover the secrets of her path.

Find Me is a plot-filled thriller that includes corporate wrongdoing and a political scandal on top of the amnesia and serial killer threads. In other words, it is the absolute perfect summer page-turner. You’ll be torn between reading it and diving in the pool. My advice — read it while lounging on a float in the water.

You Love a Feisty Heroine

Fight Night by Miriam Toews

I’m always skeptical of a child narrating an adult novel — I find the kids are either overly precocious or annoying — but Miriam Toews executes this approach perfectly in Fight Night.

Nine-year-old Swiv narrates the novel about three generations of women living in a cramped Toronto apartment. Swiv’s pregnant mom is struggling, her dad has left without a way to contact him and her grandmother, Elvira, is dedicated to teaching her to learn to fight for the life she wants. Swiv, expelled from school, is her grandmother’s caretaker, bathing Elvira and preparing her medications while Elvira leads Swiv in homeschool lessons.

Anyone who read Toews’s previous novel, Women Talking, about a group of Mennonite women considering leaving their community after learning of rampant sexual abuse, or saw the movie of the same name, will recognize similar themes. Toews, who grew up in a repressive Mennonite community and grieved the suicides of her father and sister, explores what it means to build a meaningful life.

Fight Night is a book that manages to be joyful while focusing on grief and mental health struggles. It made me laugh as Swiv described her grandma screaming, “Bombs away!” while dropping her pills on the floor and a friend found me crying as I listened to the book’s closing. The audiobook, narrated by the author and her daughter, is a particular treat.

Bingo boxes this book checks: Makes you laugh (Probably? It made me laugh.)

---

Thanks, as always, for letting me into your inbox. I’ll be back on Thursday with a Q&A featuring Sunyi Dean and Scott Drakeford, hosts of the Publishing Rodeo podcast.

---

What to Read If is a free weekly book recommendation newsletter. Need a rec? Want to gush about a book? Reply to this email, leave a comment or find me on Twitter @elizabethheld.

If you’re reading this on Substack or were forwarded this email, and you’d like to subscribe, click the button below.

Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.