The Firelight Girls: A Novel

by Kaya McLaren

Overview

The past and present collide as five women work to save the summer camp of their youth in this heartwarming novel from Kaya McLaren, The Firelight Girls

The summers you spend at summer camp are indelibly etched on your heart. But what happens when the camp you love is about to close? Can you ever really say goodbye to the place that made you who you are? These are the questions that plagues Ethel, the seventy-year-old former camp director who is nursing a broken heart after losing the love of her life as she now faces the impending closure of the camp on Lake Wenatchee that she called home. It's also a question that inspires change in forty-year-old Shannon, who spent the summers of her youth as a vibrant, capable camp counselor and is now directionless after watching her career implode. And there's Laura, who has lost all intimacy with her husband and doesn't know if she can save what seems to be gone forever. Finally, Ruby, who betrayed Ethel years ago and hasn't spoken to her since, hopes this will be her chance to make amends. When the four women learn that a homeless teen has been hiding at camp, they realize camp is something much more immediate for all: survival.

And so the three generations of women search for a way to save the place that saved them all, finding in the process a way back to themselves and each other in The Firelight Girls, Kaya McLaren's novel of love and loss, heartbreak and healing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250019790
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/14/2014
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	368
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

KAYA MCLAREN spent four summers in college working at Camp Zanika on Lake Wenatchee in Washington State, and fifteen years later returned to run the teen programs for two more. In addition to her camp experience, she's been an elementary teacher, an art teacher, an archaeologist, and a massage therapist. Although her roots are in Washington, she currently resides wherever the wind takes her.

Kaya McLaren lives on the east slope of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State where she writes and teaches middle school art. In her spare time, she loves to hike and SUP with her dog, Frida, as well as bicycle, ski, kayak, and visit as many national parks and hot springs as possible.

Editorial Reviews

10/15/2014
Up in the woods of the Pacific Northwest, Camp Firelight has hosted generations of girls, but now, lack of well water has forced the camp to close. Come to say one last goodbye, the camp's longtime director Ethel puts out the request to her former Firelight Girls to help her clean and close the buildings. Several of the girls, including Ethel's old bunkmate Ruby, heed the call. A betrayal by Ruby led to half a century of silence between Ruby and Ethel and now Ruby has returned to reconcile. Firmly in her 40s, high school teacher Shannon takes this time to reevaluate her life. Laura faces an empty nest and a husband she is not sure she loves anymore. Joining the group is 15-year-old Amber, who's been hiding out in the cabins to avoid her drug-addicted mother's various boyfriends, and who finds a sense of safety and caring with these Firelight Girls. VERDICT McLaren's (How I Came To Sparkle Again; The Church of the Dog) novel presents a sweet, touching view of the evolution of love and friendships. For readers who enjoy Kristin Hannah or Luanne Rice.—Joy Gunn, Paseo Verde Lib., Henderson, NV

Library Journal

Touching, brilliantly insightful, and deeply compassionate…The Firelight Girls is a story of the places we love and how we never outgrow them, and a sweet reminder that sometimes we have to go back before we can move forward.” —Amy Hill Hearth, New York Times bestselling author of Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years and the national bestseller, Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society

“What a generous, big-hearted book this is. McLaren explores her subjects—friendship, regret, rebirth, the irresistible pull of place—with such tenderness that you'll find yourself wishing you could be a Firelight Girl, too.” —Marisa de los Santos, New York Times bestselling author of Love Walked In

“Presents a sweet, touching view of the evolution of love and friendships. For readers who enjoy Kristin Hannah or Luanne Rice.” —Library Journal

From the Publisher