After fifteen years working in East Africa, Frankie Rowley returns to the New Ha
mpshire village where her family has always spent their summers. But the tranqui
lity she's expecting proves short lived when, on the very night she arrives, a m
ysterious arsonist begins targeting the homes of other summer residents. As this
seemingly idyllic community becomes increasingly on edge, Frankie also has to d
eal with her father's declining health--and begins a passionate affair with the
editor of a local paper that will yield its own remarkable risks and revelations
. Suspenseful, sophisticated, and finely wrought, "The Arsonist" is an artfully
nuanced and deeply emotional novel about a family and a community tested, about
how and where one ought to live, and about what it means to lead a fulfilling li
fe.
