The story wound together beautifully and highlighted the ways in which grief affect is all differently. It highlights how pain and trauma can ripple through from generation to generation.

This book is a slow burner and is well written.

Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley for an ARC of this story in exchange for my honest review.

It is the death of her cousin Chevy that brings Cassandra from London back to Toronto where her family is based after having left Trinidad. But she not only returns to the funeral but to a whole history of her family that suddenly pops up again. Stories she had forgotten but now remembers, things which have always been unsaid despite that fact that everybody knew them and secrets that now surface in the big house in Florence Street where the tension is growing day by day. The sisters and aunts find themselves in an exceptional emotional state that cracks open unhealed wounds which add to the ones that have come with the death of Chevy.

Sophie Jai was herself born in Trinidad just like her protagonist and grew up in Toronto, “Wild Fires” is her first novel and was published in 2021. It centres around a family in grief, but also a family between two countries and also between the past and the present and things that have never been addressed between the members. Having been away for some time allows Cassandra a role a bit of an outsider and she sees things of her family she has never understood.

The author wonderfully interweaves the present story of the family gathering at the Toronto home to mourn the loss and Cassandra’s childhood recollections and well-known family stories. Thus, we get to know the deceased and his role in the family web. Like Chevy’s story, also the aspects that link but also separate the generations of sisters are uncovered thus exposing long avoided conflicts.

The novel raises the questions if you can ever flee from the family bonds and how to deal with what happened in the past and has never openly be spoken out loud and discussed. Sophie Jai finds the perfect words to express the nuances in the atmosphere and paces the plot according to the characters’ increasingly conflicting mood.

I liked how the characters and their story unfolds, yet, I would have preferred a more accelerated pace and at the beginning, I struggled to understand the connection between them which was a bit confusing.

3.5 stars

I'll be honest. Wild Fires is not usually the type of book I would pick up. It falls more into the literary fiction category and that is not usually a genre that I enjoy reading. But surprisingly, I ended up enjoying this for the most part. Sophie Jai's gorgeous prose weaves a picture of complex family dynamics, combined with grief, pain and secrets buried in the past. There's some stunningly beautiful quotes spread throughout the story as well, which made reading it all the more fun. Though I would say, the pacing of the story was a tad bit too slow for me. I felt as though the writing style (as beautiful as it is) was dragging down the story a little bit, at least in the first half, which made getting through it feel like a chore.

But overall, Wild Fires is a book that I'll recommend because of the way it portrays family dynamics and familial relationships.

I really loved the way this story and the stories within were told and beautifully woven together. Grief really clutches people in different ways, which is what this book explores. The ending felt very sudden and flat, but I do recommend this anyway.

DNF - unfortunately I didn't connect with this book. It's very well written, just not my kind of book.

Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

This is a dissection of a family torn apart by grief and secrets that have been left unsaid for too long. It examines the consequences of unforgiveness and pain and how they affect the next generation. Tension in the novel is almost palpable.

Cassandra returns home to Toronto for the funeral of her cousin, Chevy. Her family is originally from Trinidad and differences between cold Toronto and vivid Trinidad are visible even inside family members when they remember life on an island. The only things Cassandra knows about her family are the stories she’s heard in over the years and everybody avoid to tell the whole truth.

"The greatest mysteries of our lives are our mothers."

Slow burner read with compelling characters and story about mourning and finding new ways to live fully.

Cassandra leaves home to travel home to Toronto for the funeral of her cousin, Chevy. She is surrounded by her large, boisterous family and their many secrets. Readers meet Cassandra’s family through flashbacks, of life and death and loves found and lost. I found the book interesting, both because of the family element and because of the story of this family that immigrated from the tropical beauty of Trinidad to cold, metropolitan Toronto

I could not get to grips with this book. The characters and time frame jiggled around so I was not sure who, what, where or why. Every time I picked it up it felt that I was starting afresh with each character - so I had very little desire to continue reading.

This is a raw, exposing deconstruction of a family torn apart by grief and what has been left unsaid for too long. It examines the effect this pain and unforgiveness has on the next generation that is gripping in claustrophobic tension. What does it mean to escape from this? Is it possible to survive outside of the family? Is it possible to survive within? This is an incredible debut from an author who will surely go far.
With thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for this honest review.

I'm not sure why I didn't enjoy this book more, it had an interesting cast of characters, and a subject matter that most of us can relate to.
But it never really sparked anything in me.
That could be me not the book.
It's a rather sad "ok" from me.

This book hit so many of my emotions, more than I expected. Some parts made me cry, some made me smile, and other e there was a mix of both at the same time. In this time of uncertainty, where some have lost family and have not been able to grieve properly, this book will help I think.

Thank you, Harper Collins, for a copy of Wildfires by Sophie Jai. I am sorry to the author, but I just could not connect to this book at all. Although it was well written, the characters/storyline did not interest me. It will appeal to others just not for me. 2 stars from me.

I really enjoyed this book, it was a slow burner read but that is what the plot demanded. It was well written with well developed characters and a good plotline. I also loved the two settings in the book as I havent read many, if any books set in these settings, and this has left me wanting to discover more.
I enjoyed finding out more about the charcaters through their histories as the story developed. I can't wait to read more by the author.

'Wild Fire' is a delicious family saga set between Toronto and Trinidad as Cassandra returns home for the first time in many years when her cousin Chevy dies. The story, or rather backstory of the family is revealed slowly though a series of flash back scenes, and we see the viewpoint of some but not all members of the family. And this is a fact that will prove crucial. Despite not sharing a cultural background with any of the characters, I found them easy to relate to and this made the novel more compelling for me. There is also a sense of dry wit appearing through the tale as Cassandra relates her interactions with her family and her attempts to uncover the multiple truths behind their secrets.

This book was a slow burner, it was well written however I’m not sure it will be a book I read again. That being said it’s not a genre I usually read.


Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an Arc in exchange for an honest opinion

This is going to be a Marmite book, you will either love it wholeheartedly, or struggle to care for the plot or the characters. Regrettably I am in the latter camp.

I just could not get into the story or engage with any of the characters, and I really did try, leaving it and returning on a couple of occasions.

Apologies to the author.

Thank you NetGalley.

Once Cassandra moves home after the death of her cousin, she becomes encapsulated in finding out more about family secrets. Amongst the grief, arguments and family secrets everything begins to unravel, which leads to the downfall of the family, resulting in one of them disappearing. It vividly describes family dysfunction in a way that a lot of people will relate to.

Slow burner for me. It was well written in the prose however I felt I just couldn't relate to the characters. This book just wasn't for me. I did preserve to the end but wasn't too sure if I enjoyed it or not.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an Arc in exchange for an honest opinion

A great read the author knows what makes families tick and through her story of an adult daughter going home to attend a family funeral she shows the grief and love held in large families
The storey of the family evolves slowly through flash back scenes where we discover the point of view of some but crucially not all the family members.We never really discover the whole story of past deaths and even the death that has bought the family together and threatens to tear them apart Ii loved this as it was so like a real family where everyone has a view but not always the whole one
The family are Trinidadian emigrants to Toronto Canada and this allows a fabulous comparison hot with cold ,emigrant with resident
The book is beautifully written and had me invested from very early on .The characters are recognisable we may not be from Trinidad or live in Canada but most of us will recognise ourselves some where in this family .Families can be claustrophobic at times and this feeling is added to by the closeness of this group all living together in one big house
The author has a natural feeling for the psychology of families in love and grief and I will be watching their future work

There was something about this book that meant I just couldn’t get into the story. I didn’t find that I got to know the characters enough to want to know what happened to them. It’s not very often I give up on a book.