A heart-stopping, magical story about human connection, for fans of THE PAPER PALACE and LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE
Two families. One night. A constellation of lives changed forever.
When retired doctor Ben Wilf comes across ten-year-old Waldo Shenkman in the middle of the night under Division Street's old oak tree, he is treated to an unexpected and magical tour of the stars. But this is not the first time the boy and old man have met. In fact, they go way back, to the night of Waldo's birth, and further still.
Secrets preside over the neighbourhood along with the majestic oak. One night in particular has been kept buried. Following it, the Wilfs -- parents and children -- change and grow, but each is haunted by what they choose to forget. Then the young Shenkmans move in across the street: a couple with their own secrets and a lonely, brilliant son who is captivated by the night sky. As their stories collide in ways they never could have imagined, the past comes hurtling back to Division Street, setting in motion a spellbinding chain of events that will transform both families forever.
Signal Fires is an exquisite portrait of two families, and a testament to the human capacity to experience love and loss. With wry tenderness it shows how we are all connected through time in ways that are at once beautiful, mysterious, profound and full of hope.
* HUNDREDS OF 5-STAR READER RESPONSES *
'Was both devastated and wowed at the end' * 'The best novel that I've read all year! I couldn't put it down' * 'Profoundly moving, deeply relatable and so beautifully written' * 'Gorgeous, deeply moving and captivating' * 'Beautiful, full of emotion and magic'
Genre: Literary Fiction
Two families. One night. A constellation of lives changed forever.
When retired doctor Ben Wilf comes across ten-year-old Waldo Shenkman in the middle of the night under Division Street's old oak tree, he is treated to an unexpected and magical tour of the stars. But this is not the first time the boy and old man have met. In fact, they go way back, to the night of Waldo's birth, and further still.
Secrets preside over the neighbourhood along with the majestic oak. One night in particular has been kept buried. Following it, the Wilfs -- parents and children -- change and grow, but each is haunted by what they choose to forget. Then the young Shenkmans move in across the street: a couple with their own secrets and a lonely, brilliant son who is captivated by the night sky. As their stories collide in ways they never could have imagined, the past comes hurtling back to Division Street, setting in motion a spellbinding chain of events that will transform both families forever.
Signal Fires is an exquisite portrait of two families, and a testament to the human capacity to experience love and loss. With wry tenderness it shows how we are all connected through time in ways that are at once beautiful, mysterious, profound and full of hope.
* HUNDREDS OF 5-STAR READER RESPONSES *
'Was both devastated and wowed at the end' * 'The best novel that I've read all year! I couldn't put it down' * 'Profoundly moving, deeply relatable and so beautifully written' * 'Gorgeous, deeply moving and captivating' * 'Beautiful, full of emotion and magic'
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"Wise, deeply perceptive, suffused with light in spite of life's darkness, Dani Shapiro's Signal Fires is an amazing novel. Shapiro inhabits her characters with lucidity and compassion, and renders their ordinary lives transcendent." - Claire Messud
"Signal Fires is an urgent and compassionate meditation on memory, time, and space. Shapiro has created a world that's as wrenching as it is wondrous." - Ruth Ozeki
"I don't know of anyone who writes about family with the same generous understanding and gem-cut sentences as Dani Shapiro. Signal Fires confirms her as an artist of the highest order." - Gary Shteyngart
"Signal Fires cuts a gleaming window into our alternate lives so meticulously and gloriously that it is quite nearly a primer on how to live not only in the present, but in the past and future as well. Shapiro has crafted a stunning future classic." - Lisa Taddeo
"Signal Fires is a haunting, moving, and propulsive exploration of family secrets." - Meg Wolitzer
"Signal Fires is an urgent and compassionate meditation on memory, time, and space. Shapiro has created a world that's as wrenching as it is wondrous." - Ruth Ozeki
"I don't know of anyone who writes about family with the same generous understanding and gem-cut sentences as Dani Shapiro. Signal Fires confirms her as an artist of the highest order." - Gary Shteyngart
"Signal Fires cuts a gleaming window into our alternate lives so meticulously and gloriously that it is quite nearly a primer on how to live not only in the present, but in the past and future as well. Shapiro has crafted a stunning future classic." - Lisa Taddeo
"Signal Fires is a haunting, moving, and propulsive exploration of family secrets." - Meg Wolitzer
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