After the Fire

Five women at critical crossroads in their lives come together in this gem of a novel set on an island off the coast of Vancouver   After the Fire introduces a quintet of very different women as they struggle with abandonment, loss, and new beginnings-both together and alone.   There is Karen Tasuki, who recently separated from her partner and wonders if she'll ever get used to being alone . . . until she befriends Red, who cleans houses for the island's privileged inhabitants. Miss James is the eccentric Southern spinster born at the turn of the century. Milly Forbes is a woman whose husband "went scot free after stealing twenty years of her life." And the sensible Henrietta "Hen" Hawkins yearns for her absent, ill husband.     On a rural island that they dub a "used-wife lot," the five heroines nurture one another as they cope with loneliness, death, and renewed life. Imbued with wit and compassion, After the Fire is a novel about women loving women and women helping women-and the bond that transcends age, race, and even gender.