Lead Review

• Book: Bay of Fires
• Location: Bay of Fires
• Author: Poppy Gee

Set over a Christmas/New Year period this novel is a vignette of how a really tiny local community deals with the disappearance of one young woman, about a year previously, followed by the current discovery of the body of another young woman, washed up on the beach. The book explores the fluid, sometimes claustrophobic relationships between the people who live in this small coastal area, the prejudices that have evolved over the years, and the gossip that underpins some of the views and actions. At the heart of the book is the developing relationship between Hall Flynn, a newspaper reporter, covering the two deaths, and Sarah Avery , whose family regularly comes to the Bay of Fires over the holiday period.
Sarah is struggling with demons she has unsuccessfully tried to leave behind, she finds it hard to really connect with those around her, and she often takes herself off to find tranquillity through fishing. Both her relationship with Hall and the way she soothes herself by going fishing form a backdrop to the story, as events gradually unfold. The reader gleans a wealth of information about fishing – Sarah has left behind a job where she was supervisor of a Barramundi fish farm, and much of her extensive knowledge is shared in the book.
The book is beautifully set among the dunes and beaches of the North Eastern coast of Tasmania, The Bay of Fires, and rolls along at a languorous pace as the storyline develops. A novel to savour. – Tina Hartas for welovethisbook.com –

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