I received a copy of Who By Fire by Diana Spechler as part of a radio blog show that Book Club Girl hosts each month. It was a great discussion and I was so grateful for a chance to discuss the book. If you’d like to check out the discussion, click here.

As for the book, I have to say that didn’t know much about the book before diving into it. I signed up with Book Club Girl based on the small bit I had read about it, so I had absolutely no expectations as far as what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised.

Here’s the blurb from Barnes and Noble:

“Bits and Ash were children when the kidnapping of their younger sister, Alena – an incident for which Ash blames himself – caused an irreparable family rift. Thirteen years later, Ash is living as an Orthodox Jew in Israel, cutting himself off from his mother, Ellie, and his wild-child sister, Bits. But soon he may have to face them again; Alena’s remains have finally been uncovered. Now Bits is traveling across the world in a bold and desperate attempt to bring her brother home and salvage what’s left of their family.”

This is most definitely a story of grief but it’s also a story of hope. The story is told from multiple points of view and I found this to be extremely effective. I noticed too that as the story picked up, the alternating chapters became shorter and shorter…which of course added to the urgency of the situation and for some odd reason gave me hope that all would turn out well for these characters.

With characters as flawed as these, I still found myself liking them and to me that is what I love about this book. Spechler did a wonderful job of creating realistic characters. I wanted them to come out on top… I wanted them to resolve their issues. Simply put, I cared about them.

Book groups will have plenty to discuss if they add this book to their reading lists and I’ve heard that she is currently working on her next novel! I can’t wait to read it.

For more info on Diana Spechler, click here to visit her website.