3 Review(s)

Fire brings death to a ranch in Texas. The only survivor is eight-year-old Ronnie, saved by Francis from the blaze which killed her family. Yet, as the smell of smoke fades, a hint of something equally destructive clouds the air -- child abuse. Suspicion falls on Francis, the young outsider adrift in America, escaping the claustrophobia of his farm home in Wales. Friendship and trust are tested to the extreme in this beautifully interleaved and resonant novel. Memory, interpretation, and invention combine to give new versions of the truth. A subtle revision of history threatens to erase the bond between Francis and Ronnie, while Francis's relationship with his father, revealed in a series of exquisitely-written flashbacks, must also be reconstructed. New circumstances put fresh meanings into 'known' facts, until a teenage Ronnie, on a visit to the UK, attempts to meet the 'man who saved her from the fire, ' presenting Francis with an opportunity to guide Ronnie towards the facts and relieve himself of a terrible burden.