Into the Fire

A year after her best friend died in a house fire, Lara can't come to terms with the loss. Logic says there was no more she could have done to save the mercurial and unhappy Alice, but Lara can't escape the feeling that she is somehow to blame for the tragedy.



She spends a weekend at the rebuilt house with Alice's charismatic widower, Crow, and his three young children. Rummaging through the remains of their shared past, Lara reveals a friendship with Alice that was as troubled as it was intense. But beneath the surface is a darker, more unsettling secret waiting to be exposed.



Through exquisite prose and searing insight, INTO THE FIRE explores the many ways, small and large, we betray one another and our ideals. It's a compelling story about power, guilt and womanhood from an outstanding voice in Australian fiction.

“As elegant and assured as its starring character, it seems astonishing that this pitch-perfect novel is the author's first fictional outing. - ReadingsA beautifully nuanced study of the intricate links between sexual desire and musical creativity - a moving melancholy and deeply impressive debut. - Gail Jones”

As elegant and assured as its starring character, it seems astonishing that this pitch-perfect novel is the author's first fictional outing. - Readings

A beautifully nuanced study of the intricate links between sexual desire and musical creativity - a moving melancholy and deeply impressive debut. - Gail Jones

Sonia Orchard is the author of a memoir, Something More Wonderful, and a novel The Virtuoso, which won the Indie Award for Best Debut Fiction of 2009. She has a PhD in Creative Writing and lives in the Macedon Ranges with her husband and three children.

A year after her best friend died in a house fire, Lara can't come to terms with the loss. Logic says there was no more she could have done to save the mercurial and unhappy Alice, but Lara can't escape the feeling that she is somehow to blame for the tragedy.She spends a weekend at the rebuilt house with Alice's charismatic widower, Crow, and his three young children. Rummaging through the remains of their shared past, Lara reveals a friendship with Alice that was as troubled as it was intense. But beneath the surface is a darker, more unsettling secret waiting to be exposed.Through exquisite prose and searing insight, INTO THE FIRE explores the many ways, small and large, we betray one another and our ideals. It's a compelling story about power, guilt and womanhood from an outstanding voice in Australian fiction.

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