Novels Now

Cassie Johnson has been married for 15 years to Peck Johnson. After discovering she was pregnant at the end of her summer romance with Peck, Cassie is forced to give up her dreams of attending college, is disowned and cut off from her preacher father and her beloved mountain home, and she is left with little choice but to marry Peck and move to his home in the low country. Their marriage has been rocky and Cassie has never been able to get over the loss of her dreams or the fact that her father never let her back into his life and died without knowing his grandchild.

The book is set in the summer of 1970. Cassie is about to go to the mountains to spend time with her mother as she always does. However, this time she is unsure if she is coming back. Peck, the new fire chief of the Garden City Beach Fire Department, can’t really take the time off work to chase her. The area is in the midst of a drought and fires are threatening the area. Besides, Peck knows he loves Cassie and that he needs to give her the time to figure things out.

The Fireman’s Wife is a beautiful story that is about shades of gray. It’s about hearing both sides of the story and being able to understand both points of view. Both Cassie and Peck are sympathethic characters so I didn’t really end up taking sides.

Cassie has mourned all of her losses for fifteen years and has never truly engaged in her life with Peck. Peck loves his wife and daughter tremendously. He just doesn’t know how to give Cassie whatever is missing from her life and feels he needs to let her go to figure it out.

The descriptions of the both of the landscapes in this story are beautiful. Whether describing Cassie’s beautiful and lush mountain home or Peck’s dry and drought-stricken low country marsh, the word pictures are vivid.

I loved this book. I thought it was poignant and gripping. In fact, I would have devoured it if I would’ve had the free time.

I would highly recommend this story to anyone who loves reading about relationships. Just make sure you have your tissues handy. (4.5/5)