There Was A Fire Here: A Memoir

(Paperback)

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Less than a month before her 40th birthday, a devastating firestorm destroys Risa Nyes home and neighborhood in Oakland, California. Already mourning the perceived loss of her youth, she now must face the loss of all tangible reminders of who she was before.

There Was a Fire Here is the story of how Nye adjusts to the turning point that will forever mark the before and after in her lifeand a chronicle of her attempts to honor the lost symbols of her past even as she struggles to create a new home for her family.

Reviews

What would you take with you if your house was about to burn What would you regret leaving behind Risa Nye's searing memoir of loss is ostensibly about objectsthe pictures, the shoes, the beloved baby blanketbut it's really about the love that holds a family together in its darkest moments. Told with humor and grace, Nye's story demands that we each take a moral inventory, then hold on tight to what truly matters most. Zac Unger, Oakland firefighter, and author of Working Fire As Nye vividly and poignantly details the physical and emotional devastation of the 1991 fire that razed her home, erased her community, and reduced her memories to 'a past with nothing left to mark its presence,' she compels each of us to wonder, What would I take How would I bear up What does home mean to me Jill Smolowe, author of Four Funerals and a Wedding: Resilience in a Time of Grief Risa Nyes lyrical, literate and beguiling voice ignites the fear of fire, love for children, and our powerful attachments to home and neighbors. With radiant language that describes the devastating Oakland hills firestorm, she hastens the pulse as an unstoppable catastrophe threatens all and alters reality. With fine memory, this remarkable writer brings us into the intimacy of sudden loss, the wonder of precious family, and the vibrancy of hope. Gus Lee, best-selling author of China Boy and With Schwarzkopf You can go home again, as Risa Nye demonstrates in this memoir of before-and-after the Great Oakland Firestorm of 1991which destroyed over 3000 homes. While her blue house with a white door and daffodils in front was a still smoldering mess, she and her husband determined they'd build it back. Home became homecoming, and now with this artful tale Nye embroiders her own life story anew with loving recollections of unique artifacts lost, from her pale pink wedding dress to a secret box of letters between herself and her husband. Home again, with memories of happy earlier days, of devastating loss and the strengths that can arise from adversity. Deirdre English, Professor, Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley

Author Bio

Risa Nye lives and writes in Oakland,CA. Her essays and articles have appeared in a number of local,national,and online publications and anthologies,including Fine Homebuilding, The San Francisco Chronicle, Skirt!Magazine,You and Me Magazine, Hippocampus Magazine, Chicken Soup and Not Your Mother's Books, and Oh Sandy! She is co-editor of Writin' on Empty: Parents Reveal the Upside, Downside, and Everything in Between When Children Leave the Nest. She earned an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Saint Mary's College. She blogs at www.risanye.com and writes a semimonthly column about cocktails under the name of Ms. Barstool for Berkeleyside.com. After a one-year blogging experiment, she wrote Zero to Sixty in One Year: An Easy Month-by-Month Guide to Writing Your Life Story. In her memoir, There Was a Fire Here, she details the events surrounding the devastating Oakland Hills firestorm of 1991 while sharing with the reader her recollections of what she lost and what she learned.