If We Caught Fire

Set in St. John's, If We Caught Fire explores the complexities of life in a blended family. When her mother decides to remarry, Edie's calm and orderly life is knocked off kilter. The groom's son, Harlow, is a joyful adventurer who shows up for the wedding and quickly recruits Edie as his sidekick. Just when she thinks she's figured him out, Harlow reveals a depth and darkness she didn't see coming. Edie and Harlow--and their new unwieldy family--do an elaborate dance all summer, trying to discover what they are to one another. By Labour Day, they've created connections, tested boundaries, and found they've come together and apart in unexpected ways. Edie and Harlow, the main characters in If We Caught Fire, navigate the world in disguise, creating personas that they believe hide their pain and vulnerability. The characters struggle to define themselves and others, to make sense of how they feel and act, to understand what they value and need. As they try to form connections with one another, they realize that labels can both create clarity and impose limits. Their families have been shaken by death, trauma, addiction, secrecy, and infidelity, which leaves them all feeling unsteady as they try to form a new blended family.