The Old Fire

 

The Old Fire by Elisa Shua Dusapin
Translated by Aneesa Abbas Higgins 
1/13/26; 192 pages
S&S/Summit Books

The Old Fire by Elisa Shua Dusapin is recommended literary domestic fiction translated from the French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins. Two sisters, Agathe and Vera, return to the crumbling family home five years after their father's death in order to clean it out after selling it.

Agathe, a 30 year-old screenwriter living in New York, left her home at 15 to live in the U.S. and hasn't returned to France until her Vera calls and asks for help cleaning the family home out.  Véra has been aphasic since she was six, after their mother left them, and communicates through texts. Now the two, almost strangers, have nine days to empty the house which will them be demolished while simultaneously old memories, resentments, secrets, and traumas resurface.

This atmospheric novel has a unsettled, melancholy feeling due to the dilapidated house, the untamed setting, Agathe's personal struggles, and even the hunters in the woods, all intermingling with the haze of old memories, hurts, and expectations. The pace is slow, but the novel is short. In spare writing, it begs the question what do we owe an estranged family member and can you set your past aside.

The two sisters know very little about each other, have no connection except their parentage, and don't appear to truly care to try to reconnect. Agathe, as a successful scriptwriter, has achieved some success, but Vera's life is unknown. Their relationship growing up was complex and left scars. And, no, to answer the question Vera asks, the two would not be friends if they weren't sisters. 

The Old Fire will be best appreciated by those who enjoy atmospheric, pensive literary novels. Thanks to S&S/Summit Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.