It's the intrusion of the past that haunts her, as she struggles to escape disturbing family secrets, and the loss of Marlea, her best friend and sometime lover. As she reaches out to a new frienship, Percy faces a searing battle of the elements -- both emotional and physical -- that will redefine her whole life, her loves and losses. Cinematic in its style, erotic in tone, Burning Ground boldly explores desire, sexual identity and emotional risk, rising to a powerful ending, not easily forgotten.
All in all, a good read. I picked this up in a used book store in Paris, Ontario during our July camping trip to Pinehurst Lake. Some intriguing background insights into the life of a fire marshall, and how they do things, how they live, etc. Made me think of my daughter out planting trees in the wilds of Northern Alberta.
***/*****
Pearl Luke was born in Peace River, Alberta, Canada. Her first novel, Burning Ground, about a young woman in love with her best friend, was published in 2000 by HarperCollins. It won the 2001 Commonwealth Writer's Prize for Best First Book (Caribbean and Canada Region), and was a finalist for the George Bugnet Award, the Chapters/Robertson Davies First Novel Award and the Libris Booksellers Award. Burning Ground was based in part on her experiences working summers on various fire towers while she wrote her Master's thesis.
