Evidence of Fire - by Jennifer Maloney (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Evidence of Fire takes us on an unflinching journey through the narrator's experiences as an addict using drugs, alcohol, and sex to cope with her depression and anxiety. She is uncompromising in her discussion of abuse, suicide, the bleak landscape of living and aging in poverty and illness in America, and the ameliorating effect of substances and behaviors that take her, if only for a moment, out of the darkness of that existence. She does not shy away from the consequences of that behavior, though-this book takes place in the space between self-awareness and denial and refuses to look away from either.

Review Quotes

With a grit and tenderness reminiscent of Jennifer Pashley's The Conjuror and The Scamp, Jennifer Maloney's Evidence of Fire brings us up close and personal with a couple in the third chapter of their life together. Both are survivors: of war, addiction, and mental illnesses and all the chaos those bring to life. Details like a reward of ice cream melting uneaten on the front seat of the car whose driver has bulimia breaks the heart. Her lush poetry threads through her prose with equal intensity. Sometimes you just pause to savor the rich language on your tongue. You might by turns be shocked at some of the predicaments the couple finds themselves in, but you end up rooting for them in all their naked vulnerability. This page-turner is an unfiltered look at the rawness of life and love, and how to keep going no matter what.

-Rachael Ikins, poet, author of The Woman with Three Elbows