About
From a New York Times bestselling author comes a story of unexpected friendship-three women thrown together in college who grow to adulthood united and divided by secrets, lies, and a single night that shaped all of them. When UC Santa Cruz roommates Anna and Kate find passed-out Georgianna Leoni on a lawn one night, they wheel her to their dorm in a shopping cart. Twenty years later, they gather around a campfire on the lawn of a New England mansion. What happens in between-the web of wild adventures, unspoken jealousies, and sudden tragedies that alter the course of their lives-is charted with sharp wit and aching sadness in this meticulously constructed novel. Anna, the de facto leader, is fearless and restless-moving fast to stay one step ahead of her demons. Quirky, contemplative Kate is a natural sidekick but a terrible wingman ("If you go home with him, might I suggest breathing through your mouth"). And then there's George, the most desired woman in any room, and the one most likely to leave with the worst man. Shot through with the crackling dialogue, irresistible characters, and propulsive narrative drive that make Lutz's books so beloved, How to Start a Fire pulls us deep into Anna, Kate, and George's complicated bond and pays homage to the abiding, irrational love we share with the family we choose.
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Reviews
"Few books have so expertly captured the intricacies and complexities of female friendship. Whip smart and cunning, deeply funny and profoundly moving, Lisa Lutz's How to Start a Fire is a knockout."
Megan Abbott, Edgar Award–winning author
"The characters are marvelous-each woman, despite having some over-the-top peculiarities about her, is relatable and fully dimensional…This is an absorbing tale that will satisfy Spellman fans as well as women's fiction readers who like a good ensemble story."
Booklist (starred review)
"Lisa Lutz has done it again: written a book I devoured, that unfolds like a mystery, makes me laugh and think, and leaves me missing the characters who took over my head. The three women, whose obsessions both enliven and threaten their friendship over two decades, are such distinct personalities, but I found myself identifying with them all."
Linda Bubon, author of Women and Children First