Signal Fires

Product Information

The “fiery herald flew,” Macaulay rhymed, “roused the shepherds of Stonehenge, the rangers of Beaulieu” to crush the Spanish fleet. And after the enemy was defeated, they lit fires for another purpose: to celebrate.

What's more, she chooses an unusual narrative arc in that it's not really an arc (don't tell Noah). If you even consider it a plot "climax," the event occurs around 60 pp. before the finish, making all that follows similar to an epilogue. To Shapiro's credit, she has built enough interest in her characters to keep most of her readers on board. Hell with the plot, the remaining crew seems to be saying, I want to know about these characters.I like the story but the timeline is dizzying. It's present day, past, and future and multiple characters. However, I was able to follow the audiobook so the story was good and got me cry a few times. Waldo is so sweet. I admire Ben's marriage but I don't like that their family don't communicate enough. Wears its philosophical intentions on its sleeve; well-developed characters and their interesting careers seal the deal.

Gripping from the start... beautifully written, Shapiro explores time, memory and our human interconnectedness to create a tender, moving portrayal of the ripple effect one event and on person's actions can have on many lives Woman & Home *Book of the Month*Presented at a time when it is not possible to physically tour, 45North, Arcade, Beyond Face, Big Telly, Boundless, Eastern Angles, English Touring Theatre, Fen in association with Out of Joint, Fuel, Graeae, Headlong, Hightide, Kestrel Theatre Company, Kneehigh, Macha Productions, National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, New Perspectives, Pentabus, Pilot, Paines Plough , SBC Theatre, Scottish International Storytelling Festival, Slung Low, Spare Tyre, The Lord Chamberlain’s Men and Yellow Earth Theatre (with more to be announced) are uniting for the first time, to collectively tour a single idea throughout October and into November. SHAPIRO: Yeah, exactly. I mean, the Wilf family at the end of that evening has a shared secret - not just keeping it from the rest of the world, but keeping it from each other, never speaking of it within their family. And the novel in so many ways is about the aftermath.

There are some touching descriptions and insightful portrayals of interpersonal relationship, but the book is marred by heavy-handed narration and a penchant for overtelling. For example, the book's central theme—that everything is connected—gets rehashed repeatedly instead of being allowed to emerge organically through the story. Meanwhile, the actual connections that link characters and events in the story can feel contrived, veering too far into the mystical to be credible, with altogether too many references to past and present selves merging, radiant beams of light, fields of energy, and invisible threads weaving people together."Stunning in depth and breadth, this luminous examination of loss and acceptance, furtiveness and reliability, abandonment and friendship ultimately blazes with profound revelations...Like creating an intricate origami puzzle, Shapiro folds together the events that define these lives over decades, focusing on specific interludes to divulge old secrets or bury new ones. Returning to fiction after touching readers with her courageous and probing memoirs, including Inheritance, Shapiro delivers keen perceptions about family dynamics via fictional characters that exude a rare combination of substance and delicacy." - Booklist (starred review)