A Fire So Wild - A Novel

Zibby Mag, Electric Literature, The Rumpus, and She Reads Most Anticipated Book of the Year"Ruiz-Grossman balances the social and political, the emotional and physical, with insight and precision. Her disparate characters all hail from different worlds, and it's a horrific thrill to witness their dramas unfurl and collide." -- New York Times Book ReviewWith the emotional echoes of Little Fires Everywhere and the lush atmosphere of Disappearing Earth, a riveting debut novel in which a wildfire creeps toward Berkeley, California, igniting tensions as characters from all walks of life confront the injustices lying beneath the city's surface.
As a wildfire threatens Berkeley, the city's inhabitants are forced to reckon with the cracks in the lives they've built. Abigail, a wealthy homeowner, decides to throw a lavish birthday in a hillside mansion to raise money for the city's newest affordable housing project-and prove to her family that she's made something worthwhile of her life. Sunny, a construction worker who sleeps in a van along the bay's shore, is in the running for an apartment-but only if enough funds are raised at the party.
As the heat and smoke from the approaching blaze descend upon the town, tensions rise and residents-young and old, haves and have nots-confront the inequities laid bare, and the fragility of building a life in a world on fire. Alternating among a colorful cast of characters, A Fire So Wild is a timely, tautly paced novel that questions why when everything burns, not everyone is left with scars.