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Griswold Quartet
Fire in the Heart
It’s supposed to be a great summer for 14-year-old Molly O’Connor, but everything is starting out wrong. Her best friend is suddenly more interested in Molly’s brother than she is in Molly. Try as she might, Molly just can’t seem to get along with her stepmother. And then a strange letter arrives from California—a letter that might help explain her mother’s death in an accident ten years before...
- GenresYoung AdultMystery
255 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
15 people want to read
About the author
Liza Ketchum Murrow
9 books1 followerLiza Ketchum is the author of fifteen books for young readers, including Newsgirl, an adventure story set in San Francisco during the gold rush. Her previous novel, Where the Great Hawk Flies, won the Massachusetts Book Award for Children’s Literature and the Boston Author’s Club Young Readers Award. Other titles about the American pioneer experience are the serialized adventure novel, Orphan Journey Home, and the nonfiction titles Into a New Country: Eight Remarkable Women of the West and The Gold Rush, a companion to the PBS series “The West.” Blue Coyote, the final title in her quartet of young adult novels, was nominated for a Lambda Literary award. Her books have appeared on the ALA’s “Best Book lists,” numerous state award lists, Bank Street College’s “Best Book List,” and on the NY Public Library’s “List for the Teenage.”
Liza has always been a teacher; she has taught writing to students of all ages. She is currently on the faculty of the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Hamline University and teaches at the ASTAL Summer Institute at Rhode Island College. About her teaching, Liza says: “I believe that everyone has a story to tell. I feel privileged to work with my students on the stories they bring to light—and life.”
Liza’s passions—besides reading and writing—include gardening, canoeing, music, art, and theater. She is devoted to a number of environmental causes and enjoys exploring the natural world. The mother of two grown sons and “Nana” to two grandchildren, Liza and her husband divide their time between the Boston area and a cabin in Vermont’s Green Mountains.
Liza has always been a teacher; she has taught writing to students of all ages. She is currently on the faculty of the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Hamline University and teaches at the ASTAL Summer Institute at Rhode Island College. About her teaching, Liza says: “I believe that everyone has a story to tell. I feel privileged to work with my students on the stories they bring to light—and life.”
Liza’s passions—besides reading and writing—include gardening, canoeing, music, art, and theater. She is devoted to a number of environmental causes and enjoys exploring the natural world. The mother of two grown sons and “Nana” to two grandchildren, Liza and her husband divide their time between the Boston area and a cabin in Vermont’s Green Mountains.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 26, 2015
It is the summer of 1988, and fourteen-year-old Molly O’Connor, born in 1974, lives on a farm on Rock River Rd. near Griswold, VT with her dad Mark, a construction contractor, her step-mom Blair, a photographer, her older brother Todd, sixteen, and Crisco, her old collie. Molly’s best friend is Kai Stewart whose Boston family spends the summers in Vermont, but right now Kai seems more interested in Todd than in Molly. In addition, Molly seems to have trouble getting along with Blair. Molly’s real mom, Ashley Bell O’Connor, a geologist, had died in a tragic automobile accident in California ten years earlier in 1978 along with a strange man named Paul Leone. Then Mark gets a letter from a Ramon Rodriguez, a student intern with the Nevada City Historical Society in California, which mentions his deceased first wife, and when Molly accidentally sees it, it motivates her to begin asking questions.
However, Mr. O’Connor refuses to talk about Molly’s mother and warns that it’s best to leave the past alone. Her eighty-year-old maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Stark Bell, whom she calls Grand Nan, is suffering from beginning dementia and can’t remember a lot of things. Grand Nan’s cousin Sadie Hall, who lives nearby and can remember, seems to be on the outs with the rest of the family. Will Molly ever be able to uncover the mystery surrounding her mother’s death? Why did Ashley go to California? And what was her relationship with Paul Leone? Molly eventually learns that at the time of her death, her mother was searching for a gold nugget buried during the Gold Rush by an ancestor, Abigail Parker, who is the heroine of Murrow’s West Against the Wind (1987). There are some things I don’t like about Fire in the Heart. It is said that people “swore” or engaged in “cursing,” and in addition to some common euphemisms (blasted, gee, dratted), the “d” word is used once, and the terms “God” and “Lord” occur a few times as exclamations.
Also, there are references to drinking beer, wine, and champagne. One scene mentions that “Kai wore a lacy pink bra over rounded breasts, with matching bikini underwear” in contrast to Molly’s “white cotton briefs and the tiny bra she wore simply to escape taunts in gym class.” Do we really need to know that? Molly does a little bit of lying in the process of trying to find out information about her mother, and some parents will want to know that a somewhat detailed description of a little adolescent kissing is found. While the book is basically about people who are rather worldly, I generally enjoyed the plot, which is presented in a manner which kept my interest. If the objectionable elements can be overlooked, there is a story which many readers should find interesting, especially in the way that Molly and her family finally find closure and healing for their old wounds.
However, Mr. O’Connor refuses to talk about Molly’s mother and warns that it’s best to leave the past alone. Her eighty-year-old maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Stark Bell, whom she calls Grand Nan, is suffering from beginning dementia and can’t remember a lot of things. Grand Nan’s cousin Sadie Hall, who lives nearby and can remember, seems to be on the outs with the rest of the family. Will Molly ever be able to uncover the mystery surrounding her mother’s death? Why did Ashley go to California? And what was her relationship with Paul Leone? Molly eventually learns that at the time of her death, her mother was searching for a gold nugget buried during the Gold Rush by an ancestor, Abigail Parker, who is the heroine of Murrow’s West Against the Wind (1987). There are some things I don’t like about Fire in the Heart. It is said that people “swore” or engaged in “cursing,” and in addition to some common euphemisms (blasted, gee, dratted), the “d” word is used once, and the terms “God” and “Lord” occur a few times as exclamations.
Also, there are references to drinking beer, wine, and champagne. One scene mentions that “Kai wore a lacy pink bra over rounded breasts, with matching bikini underwear” in contrast to Molly’s “white cotton briefs and the tiny bra she wore simply to escape taunts in gym class.” Do we really need to know that? Molly does a little bit of lying in the process of trying to find out information about her mother, and some parents will want to know that a somewhat detailed description of a little adolescent kissing is found. While the book is basically about people who are rather worldly, I generally enjoyed the plot, which is presented in a manner which kept my interest. If the objectionable elements can be overlooked, there is a story which many readers should find interesting, especially in the way that Molly and her family finally find closure and healing for their old wounds.
October 25, 2019
A really heartfelt, early middle-grade-to-young-adult book.
Fourteen-year old Molly O'Connor is just beginning to wonder about her mother, Ashley O'Connor, who died in a car accident ten years prior. Neither her father, Mark, nor her brother, Todd, have any interest in talking about the accident or the woman herself. Much to her surprise, her stepmother, Blair, goes out of her way to try and help.
Molly's secret curiosity about her mother is spurred on to a full-fledged mystery (begging to be solved) when she catches a glimpse of mail her father recently received. The letter, left open on the seat of his truck, contains Ashley's name—and is postmarked from California, the location of Ashley's fatal car accident.
Though the book's style can go from ordinary to overdramatic in zero point nine seconds, it's used sparingly. And I think this is very indicative of the early exploratory style when Young Adult books were just really beginning to stretch their legs and separate themselves from Middle Grade. Nowadays there's generally more nuance, subtlety, and complexity, but truly—these characters were very well sketched out and explored fully.
••••••••
And, now it's time for a breakdown. This novel chose me because I have been trying to find a book I read during my middle school years. I had tried, through various outlets online, to find this particular book, but it seemed out of my grasp. Regardless, this was a suggested solution to the ongoing puzzle. Needless to say, I gave this one a try.
Every step of the way through reading this book, so many parts of it felt familiar and even vaguely recognizable. I can't say with one hundred percent certainty that this is the book, but with reading this I'm thinking I may have conflated two books and meshed the memories of them. This just felt too familiar throughout. And honestly, how many children's/young adult books have the word daguerreotype in them—the very keyword I remembered? Not many, let me tell you. So, let's count this one as solved.
Fourteen-year old Molly O'Connor is just beginning to wonder about her mother, Ashley O'Connor, who died in a car accident ten years prior. Neither her father, Mark, nor her brother, Todd, have any interest in talking about the accident or the woman herself. Much to her surprise, her stepmother, Blair, goes out of her way to try and help.
Molly's secret curiosity about her mother is spurred on to a full-fledged mystery (begging to be solved) when she catches a glimpse of mail her father recently received. The letter, left open on the seat of his truck, contains Ashley's name—and is postmarked from California, the location of Ashley's fatal car accident.
Though the book's style can go from ordinary to overdramatic in zero point nine seconds, it's used sparingly. And I think this is very indicative of the early exploratory style when Young Adult books were just really beginning to stretch their legs and separate themselves from Middle Grade. Nowadays there's generally more nuance, subtlety, and complexity, but truly—these characters were very well sketched out and explored fully.
••••••••
And, now it's time for a breakdown. This novel chose me because I have been trying to find a book I read during my middle school years. I had tried, through various outlets online, to find this particular book, but it seemed out of my grasp. Regardless, this was a suggested solution to the ongoing puzzle. Needless to say, I gave this one a try.
Every step of the way through reading this book, so many parts of it felt familiar and even vaguely recognizable. I can't say with one hundred percent certainty that this is the book, but with reading this I'm thinking I may have conflated two books and meshed the memories of them. This just felt too familiar throughout. And honestly, how many children's/young adult books have the word daguerreotype in them—the very keyword I remembered? Not many, let me tell you. So, let's count this one as solved.
January 18, 2014
The sequel to West Against the Wind, which I liked enough to see if there was a sequel. Though this is set many generations in the future, it was nice to find out what happened to the characters. The "modern" day story was compelling as well. And a nice callback to the days before communication was instant.
January 18, 2014
The sequel to West Against the Wind, which I liked enough to see if there was a sequel. Though this is set many generations in the future, it was nice to find out what happened to the characters. The "modern" day story was compelling as well. And a nice callback to the days before communication was instant.
May 16, 2013
Tualatin Public Library
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews