Signal Fires

Brought to you by Penguin.

One night. One fateful choice. A constellation of lives changed forever.

On a summer night in 1985, the lives of three teenagers are shattered by a horrific car crash in which a young woman is killed next to the sprawling oak tree that marks the perimeter of 18 Division Street. For the Wilfs, it will become the deepest kind of family secret, one so dangerous it can never be spoken.

Secrets preside over the neighborhood along with the majestic oak. As we move through the decades, watching this family change and grow, we see how each of them is haunted by what they choose to ignore. Their lives become deeply entwined with the Shenkmans across the street, a couple with their own secrets and a lonely son who is captivated by the stars and a need to break free. As their stories collide in ways they never could have imagined, the past comes hurtling back to Division Street, setting in motion a spellbinding chain of events that will transform both families forever.

Signal Fires is a work of haunting beauty, an exquisite portrait of one family's world, and a testament to the human capacity to experience love and loss. With wry tenderness it shows how we are all connected through time in ways that are at once mysterious and profound.

© Dani Shapiro 2023 (P) Penguin Audio 2023