Fir

How it reads

Fir is literary fiction (small-town contemporary fiction, specifically), and its dominant mood is heartwarming. It's kind, generous and emotionally satisfying. It's a slow burn: character-driven, with a payoff that comes from accumulation rather than twists. It rewards attention and suits unhurried reading more than five-minute gaps.

It's set in a small town setting, in the present day, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are family, friendship and loss and grief. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending resolves happily. At 384 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's a hidden gem — known to relatively few readers.