I'd like to score this 4.5 out of 5 really, just to be clear. First I like good writing, fully developed characters, real stress and complications and a pace of developments that keeps me interested. Although I mostly read mystery fiction and science fiction, I got cuaght up in this novel and stayed glued to the end. Interesting story, sometimes too much detail although the writing is very good. A farming family in the early 1900's has it's family life shattered when their house catches on fire. Written through the eyes of the oldest daughter, and bouncing back and forth between different times in her life the fire and what happens is just the beginning of unraveling family insights and chemical family branch interactions, each with its own kernel part of the characters' life stories. Certainly not my usual fare, but I did find it interesting and thankfully devoid of the Disney 'perfect ending'. I get the sense that the author had a complicated family and exorcised it, but if not she did an amazing job, because I identified with that. The ending was almost too easy though, probably because I find it hard myself to accept things and move on, so she did a great job of pulling me into the story and the central protagonist.