One-Match Fire was written by Paul Lamb and published by Blue Cedar Press in 2022. You can purchase it on Amazon/Kindle and you can visit the author on social media.
This is the best of what a good coming of age story should be about. It highlights the wonders and pleasures and adversities of life.
One- Match Fire is about a lakeside cabin in the woods, where three generations of men, in one family, go to find peace and a bonding that isn't always possible in the complexities of their lives. A grandfather, a son and a grandson find a connection with one another there. The grandfather built it, enabling him to learn how to be a dad after his own father abandoned him and his son becomes a father at a very young age and struggles to please his son, who is hiding a secret that he fears could destroy any hopes he has to strengthen his relationship with his father.
During the course of decades, they cut wood, built campfires, went skinny-dipping, cleared the land, learned the rituals like searching for ticks, learning to swim and to fish and to just be themselves in an environment that they could appreciate and love- together. It was a place where love had the opportunity to grow between them. Family traditions helped that process along but as in most relationships, self-doubt and an inadequacy in their roles as father, son and grandson can be huge obstacles in bringing true harmony to a family lost in its own flaws and fears. How will this family survive and learn the lessons that this special place had to offer?
This is the best of what a good coming of age story should be about. It highlights the wonders and pleasures as well as the adversities that all of us face as we move through the years. It challenges us to try and look at situations and people through a different lens and to attempt to find a way to understand and to love the people who are especially close to us, like family, a little more than we do. The author tells a nice and heartwarming story, filled with happiness, sadness and hope. All the things life is made of.
I loved One- Match Fire!
I give One-Match Fire 4 out of 5 stars.
Paul Lamb is a scheduled guest on The Writers Lounge Blog Talk Radio Show #148 on March 18, 2024.