Fire Colour One by Jenny Valentine Review

Fire Colour One by Jenny Valentine

  

“What use are the dead to the living? They don’t even speak the same language.”

Fire Colour One is a bittersweet book with a touch of mystery to it. The story follows Iris a 16 year old who is a pyromaniac which leads to her getting into a lot of trouble. After her mother and her stepfather discover they are bankrupt they decide to return to England to “trick” her father, Ernest into giving them money.

Iris has a lot of issues and most of them root deep to parenting issues. She has a mother who will do anything to get her hands on money even put down her daughter and a father who abandoned her. It’s really sad to see how she’s treated by her mother – her existence is seen as a burden which costs her mother more than she is worth. Iris has been through so much and though she sets these fires she comes off as quite calm and collected. She was a really interesting character to read about.

The plot for the story is full of sad moments. There’s Ernest and his side of the events - how deeply he loved a woman only to be deserted when his wife found someone better and how she never loved him, her friendship with Thurston and how much she misses him, her mother’s actions and lack of regard towards her and lastly how much her father remembered about Iris when she was younger and she couldn’t remember anything. Overall the theme of family and friendship was really important.

The novel is really short and fast paced which suited the plotlines. The element of mystery was build well with certain information given at certain time and the story was dramatic in all the right places. I loved the big reveal at the end and how though it was sad it was perfect (karma).

Also the title of the book links to Iris and the book which was a nice touch.

★★★★☆