Fire & Water: A Suspense-filled Story of Art, Love, Passion, and Madness

Description

Only in the glaring light of hindsight does pediatric surgeon Kate Murphy understand that she was groomed for the path she's taken. Raised by a widowed dad and a misshapen, sometimes comical trio of parental surrogates from Murphy's Pub, her father's Irish bar in San Francisco, Kate has never understood how protected she is-but when she learns that her well-meaning family has hidden bitter truths about her mother's mental illness and death, the rest of her family history unravels. Kate is still recovering from her family's deception when she becomes involved with Jake Bloom-a charming artist different than anyone she's ever known. When she experiences his sculptures on Ocean Beach, she is forever changed; in the months that follow, Jake reveals beauty Kate has never noticed, and exposes her to spontaneity, sensuality, and love deeper than she'd imagined it could be. Only Mary K-Kate's hard-edged best friend who doesn't miss a thing and names bull when she sees it-is immune to Jake's charms. She sees the potential for danger in Jake, and, of course, she says so. Caught between her newfound passion and her friendship, Kate dismisses her friend's warnings. Ultimately, it isn't until she is in too deep, with a daughter on the way, that Kate understands what Mary K feared on her behalf. Fire & Water is a story of navigating the treacherous territory of passionate love, friendship, and family devotion-and of how love is always a matter of life and death.

Though she's been a writer all her life, Fire & Water is Betsy Graziani Fasbinder's debut novel. ;Prior to this publications, her short works of fiction and memoir have been awarded two East of Eden Awards, a Jack London Award, the Floyd Salas Award for Fiction, and have been produced by Tim O'Connor as Readers' Theater in the Miners' Foundry Theater in historical Nevada City, California. ; ; Fasbinder's ;parallel career is as a licensed therapist, so she has a deep ;understanding of the heartache and heroism that real people live in order to become fully human. ;It is this kind of inspiration that fuels all of the ;stories that Fasbinder ;feels compelled to write in both her fictional and memoir works. ; Her next novel, currently in progress. ;Set in California's Wine Country, this is the story of how different people are from what they first appear. ;She is also assembling a collection of memoir stories called Filling Her Shoes: The Story of Falling in Love with My Inherited Family. ; ; Nestled in the hills of the San Francisco Bay Area, Fasbinder lives with her husband, one son on the launch pad and the other already launched in a nearby town. ;Her golden-doodle, Edgar is her constant writing companion and most enthusiastic critic. ;

"Fire & Water is simply a wonderful read. From the very first page, story and characters urge the reader forward. Yet even as the plot rises and tangles, vital issues are examined: Can a surgeon, who thinks she can fix anything, fix a broken heart? A broken mind? Art, like life, is transient. With a discerning eye for detail, and some truly beautiful love scenes, Fasbinder takes the reader on a most compelling and satisfying ride, all the way to the final four words." -Sands Hall, author of Catching Heaven and Tools of the Writer's Craft "A heart-wrenching journey set against a richly drawn San Francisco Bay Area, Fire & Water deftly explores trust, wealth, family, and the way love changes the shape of our hearts. What a beautiful exploration of love and mental illness and family. A triumph." -Kim Culbertson, author of 2012 NCBA Winner Instructions for a Broken Heart "You will not be able to put this book down. It celebrates the families we're born to and those we choose, and digs deep into the diffi culties of wanting love and art in the same life. It examines the cost of being true to yourself, all the while being a total page-turner. Is it possible to say that reading a book might actually make you a better person? I think so, and Fire & Water is just that kind of book. It's wonderful." -Heather Donahue, author of 2011 Growgirl: How My Life After the Blair Witch Project Went to Pot "Fasbinder writes about ordinary human lives in an extraordinary way, revealing the secrets, desires, and fears that lie under the waters of everyday life. Her prose is deft, sure, and deeply wrought, her story one you will want to follow to the end." -Jessica Barksdale Inclan, author of Her Daughter's Eyes and When You Believe