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Five women at critical crossroads in their lives come together in this gem of a novel set on an island off the coast of Vancouver  After the Fire introduces a quintet of very different women as they struggle with abandonment, loss, and new beginningsâ??both together and alone. There is Karen Tasuki, who recently separated from her partner and wonders if she'll ever get used to being alone . . . until she befriends Red, who cleans houses for the island's privileged inhabitants. Miss James is the eccentric Southern spinster born at the turn of the century. Milly Forbes is a woman whose husband went scot free after stealing twenty years of her life. And the sensible Henrietta Hen Hawkins yearns for her absent, ill husband.   On a rural island that they dub a used-wife lot, the five heroines nurture one another as they cope with loneliness, death, and renewed life. Imbued with wit and compassion, After the Fire is a novel about women loving women and women helping womenâ??and the bond that transcends age, race, and even gender