One tragic event connects four lives in this haunting story of loss, love and renewal.

Noah Daniels is an innocent young boy who treasures the telescope his father bought him and who daydreams of one day travelling through space…

His mother, Kate, nurses bittersweet memories of her marriage to Richard and deeply regrets moving the family from Sydney to England…

Malcolm Martin is still paralysed with grief, twenty years after the death of his son. Home for him is now a park bench by the canal…

And then there’s Matthew Hooper – Noah’s classmate – who has come to suspect his older brother, Tom, has a dangerous obsession with fire…

Four people, from opposite sides of the world, are about to be brought together by one horrifying event that will burn them forever.

I found myself challenged by this book, I struggled with it as I never really figured out what it was about. In the beginning Noah, our central character, is in a space ship heading off planet making me think the book was science fiction, whether this confused me and I was waiting for the rest of the science fiction in amongst the people stuff and relationships isn’t clear to me.

There is a budding psycho who enjoys fire and demonstrates this several times in different ways, Nicholas portrays the growth of his psychosis. Then there’s Kate who enjoyed her husband’s company for long enough to have a child and move from Sydney to England. It’s not an adult book as we’re told gently but graphically why Kate’s marriage broke down and how she decided it was finally over. But Kate never seems to actually love Richard only stays with him for Noah, their child.

This book skips backward and forward in time starting with 2037 and then moving to 2006. Each time shift is signalled clearly with chapter headings helping people like me who prefer books presented in a linear method. It could still be confusing for some people as I was just starting to get into a particular time frame when it shifted. If I did my normal I would have been totally confused as I rarely read chapter headings.

Having said all of that I do think this is promising start to a good writing career and I look forward to reading more by Nicholas. The only time I like easy books is when I’m reading for Mondayitis, the rest of the time I prefer a little challenge and this is what this new author presents to us.

This book is my second entry into the 2014 Australian Women Writers Challenge.