Other Fires by Lenore H. Gay

 

Joss and Phil's marriage has been in trouble since the birth of their second baby.  Somehow, the pressure of working and raising their first child is doubled with the addition of the new child.  When Joss finds out that Phil has been having an affair, she wonders if this is the last straw.  Hurt and frustrated, she sends him to the guest room to sleep.  When a fire breaks out in the night, he is the one who is injured.  When he wakes up in the hospital, there is another issue.  He doesn't recognize Joss at all, claiming that she is a stranger and wonders why she is there.  To tell the truth, so does Joss.

Adam is a recovering alcoholic.  He is a skilled electrician but it's been hard for him to keep a job while he was drinking.  Sober now, he comes to Joss' house to help repair things after the fire.  Somehow he and Joss strike up a relationship.  Adam is also a dreamer and he believes he is meant to leave this town and make a whole new life somewhere else.  He thinks that Joss will uproot her children after only a few weeks of their new relationship and follow him wherever the fancy takes him.  

Terpe is the older child.  She loves her father who has always treated her as his special child.  She has been threatened by the arrival of her baby sister and is now unsure how she should regard her father.  She saw him with another woman at the hospital and it is difficult to reconcile that image with the one of him as a loving father.  She is also upset at Adam being in their house and assuming that he has rights to her mother.  

Lenore Gay has written a novel that explores the family dynamic in strained circumstances.  Infidelity is a cruel occurrence and those who shortsightedly rush into extramarital relationships seldom consider the hurt and tragedy they are bringing on those around them, especially their children.  Gay's background is in sociology and rehabilitation counseling.  This expertise is demonstrated as she explores the lives and viewpoints of these four people.  The reader will sympathize with some of the characters while being frustrated at the blindness and singlemindedness of others.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.