After the Fire

When Dickie dies tragically in a fire on the remote island of Galiano, his mother is left grief stricken and Red, his girlfriend, discovers that she is pregnant.

Illegitimate, eighteen and without her own family’s support, Red decides to keep the baby in spite of the islanders’ disapproval and adopts the old ladies that she cleans for as her family: old Miss James who is childless, lovely Henrietta Hawkins and cantankerous Milly, bitterly twisted by prejudice.

Her friendship with Karen, a young Japanese woman working on the ferry and for the fire service, highlights the differences in their outlook. Like Red, Karen has no family support. Unlike Red, she drifts, never integrates, living ‘on the edge of other peoples’ lives rather than at the centre of her own’.