Ash Mountain by Helen Fitzgerald

Today is my stop on the blog tour for Ash Mountain by Helen Fitzgerald. I was super excited to read this, my first novel by this author (I know, I know, I'm working on it) and I wasn't disappointed. My thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for inviting me. I read and reviewed from my own purchased copy. 

The Blurb:

Fran hates her hometown, and she thought she'd escaped. But her father is ill, and needs care. Her relationship is over, and she hates her dead-end job in the city, anyway.

She returns home to nurse her dying father, her distant teenage daughter in tow for the weekends. There, in the sleepy town of Ash Mountain, childhood memories prick at her fragile self-esteem, she falls in love for the first time, and her demanding dad tests her patience, all in the unbearable heat of an Australian summer.

As past friendships and rivalries are renewed, and new ones forged, Fran's tumultuous home life is the least of her worries, when old crimes rear their heads and a devastating bushfire ravages the town and all of its inhabitants...

Simultaneously a warm, darkly funny portrait of small-town life – and a woman and a land in crisis – and a shocking and truly distressing account of a catastrophic event that changes things forever, Ash Mountain is a heart-breaking slice of domestic noir, and a disturbing disaster thriller that you will never forget...

Ash Mountain was published by Orenda Books as an eBook on 14th March 2020 and is available from the publisher and Amazon. It will be released in paperback on 20th August 2020 and is currently available for pre-order from the usual places. Or why not check if your usual independent bookshop can order it for you?

My Review:

Before I open my review can we just share some love for the amazing cover? Ash Mountain is set against a backdrop of the Australian bushfires and the photo on the front of the cover is of a wee girl at her front door looking out at an actual bushfire. This incredible, powerful photo was taken by young Ava's father, Rob Dixon, and you can read his story at the back of the book.

Fran's relationship has ended, she's given up the city job she wasn't enjoying and is reluctantly returning to her small home town of Ash Mountain to look after her ailing father. Her grown up son Dante still lives there and her teenage daughter Vonny will spend weekends with her mother and grandfather. Fran approaches the care of her father with stoicism, humour and inventivene creativity. She rediscovers the town she left, and reconnects with faces from the past, not all of which she is pleased to see.

Opening to the town siren going off, the story then jumps back to ten days earlier as Fran arrives back in Ash Mountain. The story continues to jump between the day of the fire and the days running up to it, but also goes back to events of thirty years earlier which Fran is forced to revisit. Fran is our guide for most of the story, but we see things from the viewpoint of others occasionally.

As a woman in her forties with ageing parents, I could sympathise with Fran. Although I really don't think I could handle things the way she does. She's frustrated, funny, fierce and falling a little bit in love. I liked her very much. Every single character in this book is beautifully described - Dante was a favourite for me - as is Ash Mountain itself. I've never been to Australia but I could easily picture how this particular town looks.

There's an impending sense of doom throughout, rising as the fire approaches. In addition, bad memories and historical crimes rise up to confront Fran. The chapters describing the fire as it reaches the town are simply breathtaking. The descriptions are so real, so raw that I could feel the heat. The tension is palpable, the danger absolute. Not everyone is likely to make it and it's heartbreaking.

In this slim volume, coming in at just over 200 pages, Fitzgerald tells a tale of small town Australia, a woman confronting her demons and finding herself a little bit, teenage infatuation, family, fear, love and loss. Beautifully written, laced through with humour - look out for the horny ostriches and Gramps on a Stick - with a breathtaking, devastating denouement.

The Author:

Helen FitzGerald is the bestselling author of ten adult and young adult thrillers, including The Donor (2011) and The Cry (2013), which was longlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and is now a major drama for BBC1. Her 2019 dark comedy thriller Worst Case Scenario was a Book of the Year in both The Guardian and Daily Telegraph. Helen worked as a criminal justice social worker for over fifteen years. She grew up in Victoria, Australia, and now lives in Glasgow with her husband.