Where The Fire Started

By Laura Carpenter

After a barn fire, Ivy Doyle returns to her seaside hometown to keep her niece, Wren, safe. In a drawer she finds old cassette tapes-women from before speaking into the dark about what they witnessed and what they left alone. As Ivy listens, the present tilts: trespasses repeat, apologies arrive too late, and Wren knows more than a child should. The mystery isn't who lit the match, but why everyone kept passing it along.
Where the Fire Started is a lyrical, unsentimental novel about witness and repair-the ordinary bravery it takes to keep someone safe-and the fierce hope that survives after harm. For readers of Celeste Ng, Tana French, Claire Keegan, and Sarah Winman. Themes: witness & consent; intergenerational care; small-town complicity; community repair. Content guidance: non-graphic domestic harm, fire, grief.
Tagline: "A town that keeps passing the match. A woman who won't."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0FXJ8WRQY
• ISBN13: 9798232482602
• Release Date: October 2025
• Publisher: Laura Carpenter
• Length: 380 Pages
• Weight: 0.97 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.5"