What the Fire Left

By Morgan Paige Towle

What the Fire Left is not a story of redemption. It's a story of survival-raw, unflinching, and unforgettable.

When Ivy moves to New Orleans, she believes she's finally outrun her past. The city feels like freedom: late nights, endless possibility, a chance to reinvent herself. But freedom quickly turns volatile. Relationships crack under pressure. Desire blurs into danger. And the intoxicating pull of escape draws her deeper into reckless choices that leave scars she can't ignore.

Abroad in London, Ivy is swept up in the thrill of independence-until the city itself becomes a site of trauma. In the summer of 2005, when terrorist bombings shake the underground, she finds herself narrowly surviving disaster while already carrying the weight of personal implosions. When she returns to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the gutted city mirrors her own unraveling. Surrounded by wreckage, Ivy is forced to confront not only the ruins around her but the fire she carries inside.

Told in spare, lyrical prose, What the Fire Left traces a young woman's coming-of-age through toxic love affairs, fleeting friendships, and the charged atmosphere of cities in crisis. From darkrooms and dance studios to flood-ravaged streets and restless nights, Ivy's journey reveals the complicated ways we search for connection, belonging, and selfhood in the wake of trauma.

Honest, atmospheric, and deeply human, What the Fire Left is more than a story-it's a mirror for anyone who has ever tried to escape themselves, only to find that survival means learning how to stay.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0FMQ3257X
• ISBN13: 9798999885777
• Release Date: August 2025
• Publisher: Towle Creative Press
• Length: 238 Pages
• Weight: 0.71 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"