Small Fires
In Ronnie Turner’s eerie novel Small Fires, a land is ruled by tales of the devil.
Suspected for murdering their parents, Lily and her beastly sister, Della, escape to the God-Forgotten, a remote island inhabited by the fearful Folk, who worship the Warden, the devil they believe lives underground. Plagued by the bloody myths abundant throughout the God-Forgotten and Della’s terrifying stories, Lily finds solace with Silas, the Folks’ de facto leader. Both hiding secrets, they later work together to protect Moss, a newcomer, from the God-Forgotten’s lurking dangers, including Della.
In this dark fairy tale, macabre stories rule the Folk’s daily lives. Grotesque local folklore is revealed to Lily about the Singing Bridge’s children sacrificed to the Warden, the Forest of Eyes’ screaming witch’s children, and the Bleeding Tree’s hanging beads, which contain blood from the deceased. Befitting the gothic morbidity of this storied world, the prose is lyrical if menacing. One Folk woman explains, “This land is a vein, and if you are curious enough, it will bleed for you. But be sure you want the blood on your pretty, pale hands.”
Lily and Silas also recount their childhoods, resulting in chilling depictions of sibling abuse. Their personal torments melt into the God-Forgotten’s collective hauntings. Lily remembers Della’s sadistic stories, which were used to punish her for containing “bad feelings.” Silas recollects how his sister, who was resentful of him being the favored firstborn son, often tried to drain away his blood and life. With Moss’s arrival in the book’s second half, there are accelerated revelations. Their buried, twisted stories are powerful, challenging any sense of knowable, stable self-identity.
Nightmarish yet beautiful, Small Fires is a stirring novel that excavates the interpersonal and community-inflicted violence within an isolated community.
Reviewed by
Isabella Zhou
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