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Ash Mountain
Single-mother Fran returns to her sleepy hometown to care for her dying father when a devastating bush fire breaks out. A heartbreaking, nail-biting disaster-noir thriller from the bestselling author of The Cry and Worst Case Scenario.
‘ Urgent, angry, absolutely terrifying, yet suffused with the humanity and humour you expect from a Helen Fitzgerald novel' Erin Kelly, author of Watch Her Fall
‘ Tantalisingly powerful' The Times
‘ Ash Mountain is the author at her masterly best ... I loved it!' Louise Candlish, author of The Heights
________________
Fran hates her hometown, and she thought she' d escaped. But her father is ill, and needs care. Her relationship is over, and she hates her dead-end job in the city, anyway.
She returns home to nurse her dying father, her distant teenage daughter in tow for the weekends. There, in the sleepy town of Ash Mountain, childhood memories prick at her fragile self-esteem, she falls in love for the first time, and her demanding dad tests her patience, all in the unbearable heat of an Australian summer. As past friendships and rivalries are renewed, and new ones forged, Fran' s tumultuous home life is the least of her worries, when old crimes rear their heads and a devastating bushfire ravages the town and all of its inhabitants...
Simultaneously a warm, darkly funny portrait of small-town life – and a woman and a land in crisis – and a shocking and truly distressing account of a catastrophic event that changes things forever, Ash Mountain is a heart-breaking slice of domestic noir, and a disturbing disaster thriller that you will never forget...
________________
‘ A new novel from Helen Fitzgerald is always a major event, and Ash Mountain is magnificent' Mark Billingham, author of Rabbit Hole
‘ There is plenty of human depravity in the plot but none of that is as terrifyingly overmastering as the fire' Literary Review
‘ Domestic life is rarely served up quite so dark as this – but that only makes you hungry for more' The Sun
‘ Dark, atmospheric and terrifying' Ambrose Parry, author of A Corruption of Blood
‘ Compelling' Independent
Praise for Helen FitzGerald
***Worst Case Scenario was Shortlisted for the Theakston' s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2020***
‘ The plotting is intricate and beautifully handled, and the narrative pace is absolutely breakneck ... a wonderful, energetic, hard-hitting and deeply funny novel' The Big Issue
‘ The main character is one of the most extraordinary you' ll meet between the pages of a book' Ian Rankin, author of A Song for the Dark times
‘ A dark, comic masterpiece which manages to be both excruciatingly tense and laugh out loud funny at the same time' Mark Edwards, author of The House Guest
‘ The classic th
‘ Urgent, angry, absolutely terrifying, yet suffused with the humanity and humour you expect from a Helen Fitzgerald novel' Erin Kelly, author of Watch Her Fall
‘ Tantalisingly powerful' The Times
‘ Ash Mountain is the author at her masterly best ... I loved it!' Louise Candlish, author of The Heights
________________
Fran hates her hometown, and she thought she' d escaped. But her father is ill, and needs care. Her relationship is over, and she hates her dead-end job in the city, anyway.
She returns home to nurse her dying father, her distant teenage daughter in tow for the weekends. There, in the sleepy town of Ash Mountain, childhood memories prick at her fragile self-esteem, she falls in love for the first time, and her demanding dad tests her patience, all in the unbearable heat of an Australian summer. As past friendships and rivalries are renewed, and new ones forged, Fran' s tumultuous home life is the least of her worries, when old crimes rear their heads and a devastating bushfire ravages the town and all of its inhabitants...
Simultaneously a warm, darkly funny portrait of small-town life – and a woman and a land in crisis – and a shocking and truly distressing account of a catastrophic event that changes things forever, Ash Mountain is a heart-breaking slice of domestic noir, and a disturbing disaster thriller that you will never forget...
________________
‘ A new novel from Helen Fitzgerald is always a major event, and Ash Mountain is magnificent' Mark Billingham, author of Rabbit Hole
‘ There is plenty of human depravity in the plot but none of that is as terrifyingly overmastering as the fire' Literary Review
‘ Domestic life is rarely served up quite so dark as this – but that only makes you hungry for more' The Sun
‘ Dark, atmospheric and terrifying' Ambrose Parry, author of A Corruption of Blood
‘ Compelling' Independent
Praise for Helen FitzGerald
***Worst Case Scenario was Shortlisted for the Theakston' s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2020***
‘ The plotting is intricate and beautifully handled, and the narrative pace is absolutely breakneck ... a wonderful, energetic, hard-hitting and deeply funny novel' The Big Issue
‘ The main character is one of the most extraordinary you' ll meet between the pages of a book' Ian Rankin, author of A Song for the Dark times
‘ A dark, comic masterpiece which manages to be both excruciatingly tense and laugh out loud funny at the same time' Mark Edwards, author of The House Guest
‘ The classic th
208 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 14, 2020
39 people are currently reading
586 people want to read
About the author
Helen Fitzgerald
20 books347 followersHelen FitzGerald is the second youngest of thirteen children. She grew up in the small town of Kilmore, Victoria, Australia, and studied English and History at the University of Melbourne. Via India and London, Helen came to Glasgow University where she completed a Diploma and Masters in Social Work. She works part time as a criminal justice social worker in Glasgow. She's married to screenwriter Sergio Casci, and they have two children.
Follow her on twitter @fitzhelen
Follow her on twitter @fitzhelen
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 200 reviews
May 19, 2021
⭐️4 Stars⭐️
Ash Mountain by Helen Fitzgerald was a thought provoking, darkly atmospheric and tense story to read. Some of the scenes were so horrific that it will take some time for me to forget them. Well written and gut wrenching especially the water tank scene.
Set in a small Victorian rural town called Ash Mountain a raging bushfire is heading it’s way and catastrophe strikes. Fran is forty-five, her father has had a stroke, her relationship is over and she has come back home to Ash Mountain to care for him. Fran hates her hometown, her first born Dante was born there when she was just fifteen and he still lives there now at almost thirty. Her daughter Vonny is sixteen and she visits only weekends as she lives with her father the rest of the time.
News that Dante’s biological father will be in town complicates life for Fran as well as the news of Vonny’s new love interest, Fran also has found a love interest of her own. There's also a heinous crime tucked away in her mind that has haunted Fran and it's resurfaced.
I found the last part of the story very confronting and distressing, but I also found the story unputdownable! The narrative counts down the days ahead of the bushfire and also goes back to Fran’s past.
A well written story of family, friendships and loss with a perfect blend of absolutely interesting characters and touches of humour. The author sure knows how to set a scene.
I wish to thank Better Reading & Affirm Press for sending me an advanced copy of the book
Ash Mountain by Helen Fitzgerald was a thought provoking, darkly atmospheric and tense story to read. Some of the scenes were so horrific that it will take some time for me to forget them. Well written and gut wrenching especially the water tank scene.
Set in a small Victorian rural town called Ash Mountain a raging bushfire is heading it’s way and catastrophe strikes. Fran is forty-five, her father has had a stroke, her relationship is over and she has come back home to Ash Mountain to care for him. Fran hates her hometown, her first born Dante was born there when she was just fifteen and he still lives there now at almost thirty. Her daughter Vonny is sixteen and she visits only weekends as she lives with her father the rest of the time.
News that Dante’s biological father will be in town complicates life for Fran as well as the news of Vonny’s new love interest, Fran also has found a love interest of her own. There's also a heinous crime tucked away in her mind that has haunted Fran and it's resurfaced.
I found the last part of the story very confronting and distressing, but I also found the story unputdownable! The narrative counts down the days ahead of the bushfire and also goes back to Fran’s past.
A well written story of family, friendships and loss with a perfect blend of absolutely interesting characters and touches of humour. The author sure knows how to set a scene.
I wish to thank Better Reading & Affirm Press for sending me an advanced copy of the book
February 19, 2021
For a book with less than 300 pages, Ash Mountain really packs a punch. It is an incredibly emotional, real and funny story set in a rural town in Australia at the height of summer .I will definitely be checking out Helen Fitzgerald's other books after reading this. Thanks to Affirm Press for sending me this surprise bookmail and putting it on my radar.
Single mum Fran returns to her childhood home to care for her father. Ash Mountain has never been a happy place for Fran and she never thought she would return. But she does, with her teenage daughter in tow. She has to face her past, with reminders and memories on every corner. Ash Mountain is full of big characters and secrets - huge secrets.
There is a bushfire headed straight for the town and all she can think of is saving her family. The story is told in multiple timelines and we learn about Fran's past and why she hates the town so much. But this time, Ash Mountain might not be so bad.
Single mum Fran returns to her childhood home to care for her father. Ash Mountain has never been a happy place for Fran and she never thought she would return. But she does, with her teenage daughter in tow. She has to face her past, with reminders and memories on every corner. Ash Mountain is full of big characters and secrets - huge secrets.
There is a bushfire headed straight for the town and all she can think of is saving her family. The story is told in multiple timelines and we learn about Fran's past and why she hates the town so much. But this time, Ash Mountain might not be so bad.
March 25, 2020
“Ash Mountain” stirred so many emotions during reading this, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry by the end - well I definitely felt like crying at the ending - but with dry, dark humour, dysfunctional relationships, tension and sadness, this story is so well written, it’s a one that will stay with me a very long time.
Having read the author Helen Fitzgerald’s most recent novel ‘Worst Case Scenario’, I knew I was in for a treat, I love how she tackles serious subjects in a way that doesn’t bog you down with depressing heaviness but keeps the characters realistic and lighthearted. I was pleased by the amount of the often dark and witty humour, as otherwise this would have been too harrowing to read but because this author knows how to incorporate light heartedness in the face of adversity, I felt the story was more realistic and just as dramatic.
The author actually lives in bushfire territory and based the story on heroic and traumatic real life scenarios, using information gained from a man who tweeted live, the hauntingly and horrific details, as a real life firestorm hit his area, recording his behaviour step by step. The cover photograph is an actual photo too (just to add to the authenticity to the story!) taken spur of the moment by a father of one of his kids, as she watched the fiery, orange sky, standing in the open doorway of their house. Hard to comprehend isn’t it?
The ending was severe, hard hitting and had me holding my breath, truly, truly well written and a denouement to a story like no other I’ve ever read.
An honest portrayal of life during the days of an upcoming firestorm, mixed with a domestic noir that slips back seamlessly thirty years and which together forms a terrific thriller you won’t be able to put down.
4 stars.
Having read the author Helen Fitzgerald’s most recent novel ‘Worst Case Scenario’, I knew I was in for a treat, I love how she tackles serious subjects in a way that doesn’t bog you down with depressing heaviness but keeps the characters realistic and lighthearted. I was pleased by the amount of the often dark and witty humour, as otherwise this would have been too harrowing to read but because this author knows how to incorporate light heartedness in the face of adversity, I felt the story was more realistic and just as dramatic.
The author actually lives in bushfire territory and based the story on heroic and traumatic real life scenarios, using information gained from a man who tweeted live, the hauntingly and horrific details, as a real life firestorm hit his area, recording his behaviour step by step. The cover photograph is an actual photo too (just to add to the authenticity to the story!) taken spur of the moment by a father of one of his kids, as she watched the fiery, orange sky, standing in the open doorway of their house. Hard to comprehend isn’t it?
The ending was severe, hard hitting and had me holding my breath, truly, truly well written and a denouement to a story like no other I’ve ever read.
An honest portrayal of life during the days of an upcoming firestorm, mixed with a domestic noir that slips back seamlessly thirty years and which together forms a terrific thriller you won’t be able to put down.
4 stars.
March 2, 2021
This was such a good read! I’ve never read this author before but according to the cover she wrote “The Cry” which was made into a multi-twist TV show which I enjoyed.
This book is set in a small town in Victoria much like the town Fitzgerald grew up in.
The opening chapter gets the heart racing straight away, there’s a huge bushfire bearing down on the town. For the rest of the book, chapters count down the days before the bushfire and also jump back to 30yrs ago. These historical chapters reveal the personal history of the main character Fran, and also the history of the town Ash Mountain. Fran returns to the town 10 days before the fire to care for her elderly father. She has two children and there’s wonderful family banter and it all feels very real.
But there’s also a lot of serious subject matter() which made this book a bit of an emotional roller coaster in itself and that’s without the description of the bushfire as it rages through the town. A quick read that covers a lot of territory!
This book is set in a small town in Victoria much like the town Fitzgerald grew up in.
The opening chapter gets the heart racing straight away, there’s a huge bushfire bearing down on the town. For the rest of the book, chapters count down the days before the bushfire and also jump back to 30yrs ago. These historical chapters reveal the personal history of the main character Fran, and also the history of the town Ash Mountain. Fran returns to the town 10 days before the fire to care for her elderly father. She has two children and there’s wonderful family banter and it all feels very real.
But there’s also a lot of serious subject matter() which made this book a bit of an emotional roller coaster in itself and that’s without the description of the bushfire as it rages through the town. A quick read that covers a lot of territory!
June 17, 2021
Dark, disturbing and engrossing this book will resonant from the first page with anyone who grew up in a small town and left the second they could. It is a eerily convincing portrayal of a fictional small Australian town in which the main feature's include the fact that it is no too far from Melbourne and that there has always been a Catholic boys school there.
Fran hated growing up there and escaped as soon as she could, but her father whom she loves has had a stroke and is mostly disabled. She comes back to care for him and the history of the town and her history within it start being peeled back for the reader like the black skin on a banana that you suspect to be bad inside - then it turns out to be much, much worse on the inside than you suspected.
Fran herself was traumatised by the town when she was young, a teen pregnancy was her legacy from the 'boarders' the boys sent to the school who are every bit as bad as some of the stories I have heard about these schools. But beyond the rampant sexism, assault and dodgy dealings of the boys lurk the nasty little secrets that so many small towns conceal, the complex personalities of their inhabitants and the secrets that so many churches hide. It is engrossing yet creepy reading.
The story is full of details, small insignificant details, like the pet ostriches, which make for a marvellously convincing story. The whole town, and all the personalities in it, and all the history and all the outraged all come to a head as a major bushfire descends on the town and Fran is our vehicle for seeing the whole thing.
It there was one thing I was not entirely on board with, it was the time traveling chapters; sometimes we were doing a count down style... Six days before the fire, five days before the fire ect. Then all of a sudden we were thirty years before the fire. A few times I had no real idea when we were relating to the fire OR any-when else. Not a big deal, it did not bother me as much as it sometimes did, but it did give me pause every now and again.
I do thoroughly recommend this engrossing read, though the details of child abuse (while pretty delicately handled) and the bushfire descriptions (enough to raise shudders in anyone who has ever encountered one) might make it too confrontational for some readers.
Fran hated growing up there and escaped as soon as she could, but her father whom she loves has had a stroke and is mostly disabled. She comes back to care for him and the history of the town and her history within it start being peeled back for the reader like the black skin on a banana that you suspect to be bad inside - then it turns out to be much, much worse on the inside than you suspected.
Fran herself was traumatised by the town when she was young, a teen pregnancy was her legacy from the 'boarders' the boys sent to the school who are every bit as bad as some of the stories I have heard about these schools. But beyond the rampant sexism, assault and dodgy dealings of the boys lurk the nasty little secrets that so many small towns conceal, the complex personalities of their inhabitants and the secrets that so many churches hide. It is engrossing yet creepy reading.
The story is full of details, small insignificant details, like the pet ostriches, which make for a marvellously convincing story. The whole town, and all the personalities in it, and all the history and all the outraged all come to a head as a major bushfire descends on the town and Fran is our vehicle for seeing the whole thing.
It there was one thing I was not entirely on board with, it was the time traveling chapters; sometimes we were doing a count down style... Six days before the fire, five days before the fire ect. Then all of a sudden we were thirty years before the fire. A few times I had no real idea when we were relating to the fire OR any-when else. Not a big deal, it did not bother me as much as it sometimes did, but it did give me pause every now and again.
I do thoroughly recommend this engrossing read, though the details of child abuse (while pretty delicately handled) and the bushfire descriptions (enough to raise shudders in anyone who has ever encountered one) might make it too confrontational for some readers.
April 3, 2020
Whoa!! A different read. The prose was snarky, filled with self-deprecating humor where the truth was subtly weaved into the story until the bushfire started and reality exploded in different colors of orange and yellow.
Fran came back home to Ash Mountain to look after her father with her teenage daughter. The town hadn’t changed though she did get to see some gruesome truths. The bushfire started, and it was all she could do to save her family.
My first book by author Helen Fitzgerald, I was taken aback by the style of the prose. There was something lyrical about it, nothing blatant in its form. At first glance, it felt as if the prose, told from the POV of the protagonist Fran, was kinda the sarcastic filled with dark dry humor. But when I allowed it to settle over me, it told me a story which had an earnest frankness to it. Different… Quite different.
A stark portrayal of a natural disaster (so apt for our times now) the story was interspersed with truths and lies, pretense and fake, layered up so well in humor that the shocks received were tiny but well perceived. It was the bushwire which threw everything into disarray. Then it became a matter of survival, for some with reputations intact. The layers were chucked off and all that remained was the naked truth.
The last few pages truly captured what the author led the rest of the story into. There was a tennis ball stuck in my throat, fear was what I would call when I read the scenes. The author could truly bring to life one of the most harrowing deaths. Shiver… Shiver…
My mind flew as I read about the scattered ash. My being settled in the tiny reservoir of water which saved human lives and that of an ostrich. My fingers trembled as I wrote the review. Read it… Listen to it… It is different… And so brilliant.
Fran came back home to Ash Mountain to look after her father with her teenage daughter. The town hadn’t changed though she did get to see some gruesome truths. The bushfire started, and it was all she could do to save her family.
My first book by author Helen Fitzgerald, I was taken aback by the style of the prose. There was something lyrical about it, nothing blatant in its form. At first glance, it felt as if the prose, told from the POV of the protagonist Fran, was kinda the sarcastic filled with dark dry humor. But when I allowed it to settle over me, it told me a story which had an earnest frankness to it. Different… Quite different.
A stark portrayal of a natural disaster (so apt for our times now) the story was interspersed with truths and lies, pretense and fake, layered up so well in humor that the shocks received were tiny but well perceived. It was the bushwire which threw everything into disarray. Then it became a matter of survival, for some with reputations intact. The layers were chucked off and all that remained was the naked truth.
The last few pages truly captured what the author led the rest of the story into. There was a tennis ball stuck in my throat, fear was what I would call when I read the scenes. The author could truly bring to life one of the most harrowing deaths. Shiver… Shiver…
My mind flew as I read about the scattered ash. My being settled in the tiny reservoir of water which saved human lives and that of an ostrich. My fingers trembled as I wrote the review. Read it… Listen to it… It is different… And so brilliant.
May 17, 2020
Finished reading: May 7th 2020
"This town is no more shit than any other place. It's just that when you live in a small town, you know everyone, you know their tragedies, and you feel their pain."
*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***
P.S. Find more of my reviews here.
September 11, 2020
In Ash Mountain Fran Collins, a single mother in her mid-forties complete with her teenage daughter Vonny (only on the weekends) in tow reluctantly returns home to the small and rural Australian town of Ash Mountain. Fran resents being back, Ash mountain is a place that she had escaped from, but after suffering a stroke her elderly father is unable to look after himself and she is left with no choice but to come back and care for him.
With a population of only 867 Ash Mountain is a very claustrophobic and close-knit community where everyone knows everyone else. When Fran returns the town is still the same and it is like stepping back in time, the same town that is still full of the same faces, old friends and old enemies just older, weathered and worn. Fran loves her father, she also loves her twenty-nine-year-old son Dante who has walked his own path in life and who now lives in Ash Mountain too. The town also holds bad memories for Fran, memories of loss and of hurt that linger and that remain even decades later. There are ghosts, people that haunt the town and that walk the streets that Fran wants to avoid, but that she must face to unearth the past and to find out what’s buried beneath.
Ash Mountain starts on the day that a raging bushfire is engulfing the town of Ash Mountain, it also ends that way too with the last chapter bringing the story in a full and flaming circle. The story is told through three different timelines ‘Thirty Years Before the Fire’ when Fran was a teenager in the town, ‘The Day of the Fire’ and then, the third timeline starting at ‘Ten Days Before the Fire’ which counts down the days from Fran’s arrival back in Ash Mountain through to the day of the fire. Fran is the main focus of the story in Ash Mountain, both in the past and in the present as events unfold through her third-person perspective. However, during ‘The Day of the Fire’ chapters (along with Fran) we are given snapshots from the other residents of Ash Mountain allowing for a wider scope across the community as the devastation of the fire sweeps across the town. Having three timelines is never confusing to follow and works well to create a rounded and full picture of Fran, of the other characters, of the town of Ash Mountain and of the dark deeds and the shameful historic secrets that are hidden within the community.
Starting the story on the day of the fire is very clever and it paints a harrowing and striking picture of the horror and the tragedy that is yet to come. By then taking the story back to before the fire, Fran, her family and the rest of the Ash Mountain residents don’t. They have no idea what is coming, the approaching fiery sea of orange and red that will consume the town and you get to see them going about their normal lives oblivious to what will happen and the fate that will befall them. As the reader, you know what awaits Ash Mountain and you know that not everyone will survive the looming disaster. You know that before the end some of the people who you are reading about will lose their lives to the flames and that is a very powerful feeling to have as you turn the pages.
Fran carries the baggage of her past, is flawed, resilient and tough, she is nobody special, she just a normal, everyday person who will be relatable to many. She is blunt, brash, frank in her views, opinionated, forthright in her manner and Fitzgerald gets her sharp and snarky voice spot on. She loves her father but is struggling with caring for him. She has a somewhat turbulent relationship with Vonny, but she is protective of both the often sullen and sulky Vonny and the carefree Dante and together they all form a highly likeable and dysfunctional family unit.
Ash Mountain is populated by a diverse and eclectic mix of characters who each have their own distinct voice and the characterisation by Fitzgerald is stellar. Some are good, some are bad, you see the best of them, the worst of them and due to that, you see them as human. The arid, barren, desolate, dusty and sweltering setting of Ash Mountain is well realised and vivid. With her writing, Fitzgerald does a phenomenal job of starkly rendering the fire, the oncoming inferno where, like shadows engulfing the light, flames engulf Ash Mountain as the town is transformed into a conflagration. Fitzgerald depicts the horrors, the heat, the smoke, the choking air, the distress, the chaos and the havoc, the helplessness, the panic and the fear that the residents feel in a truly terrifying way. The writing is also full of black humour and you will often find yourself smirking and sniggering. There are poignant moments to be found too, moving moments that are hard-hitting and the story itself is fast-paced and written in a snappy way that is easy to read and highly addictive.
At just over two hundred pages Ash Mountain is a short read that packs an emotional heft far larger than its sparse page count should allow. It is darkly humorous, gripping and intense with an ending that leaves a thoughtful and deep impression upon the reader.
With a population of only 867 Ash Mountain is a very claustrophobic and close-knit community where everyone knows everyone else. When Fran returns the town is still the same and it is like stepping back in time, the same town that is still full of the same faces, old friends and old enemies just older, weathered and worn. Fran loves her father, she also loves her twenty-nine-year-old son Dante who has walked his own path in life and who now lives in Ash Mountain too. The town also holds bad memories for Fran, memories of loss and of hurt that linger and that remain even decades later. There are ghosts, people that haunt the town and that walk the streets that Fran wants to avoid, but that she must face to unearth the past and to find out what’s buried beneath.
Ash Mountain starts on the day that a raging bushfire is engulfing the town of Ash Mountain, it also ends that way too with the last chapter bringing the story in a full and flaming circle. The story is told through three different timelines ‘Thirty Years Before the Fire’ when Fran was a teenager in the town, ‘The Day of the Fire’ and then, the third timeline starting at ‘Ten Days Before the Fire’ which counts down the days from Fran’s arrival back in Ash Mountain through to the day of the fire. Fran is the main focus of the story in Ash Mountain, both in the past and in the present as events unfold through her third-person perspective. However, during ‘The Day of the Fire’ chapters (along with Fran) we are given snapshots from the other residents of Ash Mountain allowing for a wider scope across the community as the devastation of the fire sweeps across the town. Having three timelines is never confusing to follow and works well to create a rounded and full picture of Fran, of the other characters, of the town of Ash Mountain and of the dark deeds and the shameful historic secrets that are hidden within the community.
Starting the story on the day of the fire is very clever and it paints a harrowing and striking picture of the horror and the tragedy that is yet to come. By then taking the story back to before the fire, Fran, her family and the rest of the Ash Mountain residents don’t. They have no idea what is coming, the approaching fiery sea of orange and red that will consume the town and you get to see them going about their normal lives oblivious to what will happen and the fate that will befall them. As the reader, you know what awaits Ash Mountain and you know that not everyone will survive the looming disaster. You know that before the end some of the people who you are reading about will lose their lives to the flames and that is a very powerful feeling to have as you turn the pages.
Fran carries the baggage of her past, is flawed, resilient and tough, she is nobody special, she just a normal, everyday person who will be relatable to many. She is blunt, brash, frank in her views, opinionated, forthright in her manner and Fitzgerald gets her sharp and snarky voice spot on. She loves her father but is struggling with caring for him. She has a somewhat turbulent relationship with Vonny, but she is protective of both the often sullen and sulky Vonny and the carefree Dante and together they all form a highly likeable and dysfunctional family unit.
Ash Mountain is populated by a diverse and eclectic mix of characters who each have their own distinct voice and the characterisation by Fitzgerald is stellar. Some are good, some are bad, you see the best of them, the worst of them and due to that, you see them as human. The arid, barren, desolate, dusty and sweltering setting of Ash Mountain is well realised and vivid. With her writing, Fitzgerald does a phenomenal job of starkly rendering the fire, the oncoming inferno where, like shadows engulfing the light, flames engulf Ash Mountain as the town is transformed into a conflagration. Fitzgerald depicts the horrors, the heat, the smoke, the choking air, the distress, the chaos and the havoc, the helplessness, the panic and the fear that the residents feel in a truly terrifying way. The writing is also full of black humour and you will often find yourself smirking and sniggering. There are poignant moments to be found too, moving moments that are hard-hitting and the story itself is fast-paced and written in a snappy way that is easy to read and highly addictive.
At just over two hundred pages Ash Mountain is a short read that packs an emotional heft far larger than its sparse page count should allow. It is darkly humorous, gripping and intense with an ending that leaves a thoughtful and deep impression upon the reader.
July 14, 2020
You should always experience Australian fiction on Audible. I loved the Australian vernacular reading by Fiona McLeod, with the characteristic pinched vowels where to the American provincial ear 'fete' sounds like 'fate', 'head' like 'hid' and 'shed' like ... - oh don't bother! I've been following Helen Fitzgerald's fiction since reading The Devil's Staircase and usually loving it, though finding an occasional dud. Since Fitzgerld is an Australian who lives and works in Scotland, one can't classify her work by nationality. But Ash Mountain is very Australian, set in a small farming community in the State of Victoria, in the path of a huge bush fire. The main character is named Fran, short for Francesca (what a difference that makes), though her Italian mother died when she was six. The story takes place in two time sequences, now and thirty years ago when Fran was a teenager inpregnated by a boarder at the local Catholic boys' school, presided over by paedophile priests. Fran attends a convent school run by abusive alcoholic sisters. (American readers who have experienced traditional Roman Catholicism will find the Australian version [also of Irish pedigree] familiar but even more bizarre.) Currently Fran's father is a wheelchair bound invalid she has returned from Melbourne to care for. Her 30 year old son Dante lives nearby and daughter Bonnie is visiting for the Australia Day fete. As often in a Helen Fitzgerald novel, relationships take new twists. Fran is attracted to an old admirer called 'the Captain' whose daughter Roz becomes inamoured with Bonnie, and Fran fears a relationahip with the Captain might be incest. (I recall a similar question coming up in one of Fitzgerald's earlier novels.) To allow her father (called 'Gramps' on account of his relationship to Dante, and whom I found thoroughly disagreeable though some readers will think him endearingly eccentric) to get out and around, Fran attaches an iPad on a stick to the sort of buggy that running mums use as pushchairs for their infant offspring, calling him 'gramps on a stick' (how 'gramps on a stick' maintains internet access is unexplained). There were some other things I couldn't quite visualise, like an inflatable dinghy in a water tank. The account of the fire is utterly gripping and I expect Ash Moutain will be one of the top reads of the year.
March 26, 2020
A darkly acerbic portrayal of small-town life and secrets and a searing portrayal of a natural disaster that changes everything...
At just over two hundred pages and despite struggling to settle into the book, Ash Mountain ended up becoming one of the most compelling and brutally brilliant thrillers I can remember. In parts, devastating and in others shot through with laugh out loud dark humour, the story provides the ultimate test for gutsy female protagonist, Fran.
Snarky forty-something, Fran Collins, arrives back in the small-town she grew up in to care for her ailing father with mixed feelings; she loves her dad, her teen pregnancy mistake and son, Dante, lives there and sixteen-year-old daughter, Vonny, will be coming to visit at the weekends, but the town is depressingly unchanged and her childhood traumas are hurtling back. As Fran gets obsessive - and inventive - with her ideas on caring for her dad she is unsurprised to find that many of the old faces never even left the town, old crimes continue and the memories fester. Whilst her old frenemy is keen to renew rivalries and her eyes are turned by the former geek next door, the news that Dante’s biological father will be in town and Vonny has her own romantic interest complicates outspoken Fran’s dysfunctional life even more. Just as Ash Mountain finally starts to feel like it might become a place to call home for Fran, the blistering weather forecast threatens to damage everything and jeopardise the people that mean the most of all.
As the narrative counts down the days ahead of the catastrophic fire and occasionally charts back to thirty years previously when Fran was a fifteen year old, it is intercut by first-person snapshots from the supporting cast. Knowing that something catastrophic is imminent adds urgency to the narrative and simultaneously intensifies the sense of claustrophobia. Between smirking and sniggering at some cracking turns of phrase in Helen Fitzgerald’s prose to suddenly being thrown into the life-changing disaster of a bushfire, I veered through an extreme range of emotions and felt every agonising moment of the town’s horror.
The final fifty pages of the novel are the closest I can remember to genuine heart in mouth tension and I guarantee that this is one ending that readers won’t see coming. On turning the final page the thought that the disaster is only the beginning lingers and gives the novel an incredible poignancy.
At just over two hundred pages and despite struggling to settle into the book, Ash Mountain ended up becoming one of the most compelling and brutally brilliant thrillers I can remember. In parts, devastating and in others shot through with laugh out loud dark humour, the story provides the ultimate test for gutsy female protagonist, Fran.
Snarky forty-something, Fran Collins, arrives back in the small-town she grew up in to care for her ailing father with mixed feelings; she loves her dad, her teen pregnancy mistake and son, Dante, lives there and sixteen-year-old daughter, Vonny, will be coming to visit at the weekends, but the town is depressingly unchanged and her childhood traumas are hurtling back. As Fran gets obsessive - and inventive - with her ideas on caring for her dad she is unsurprised to find that many of the old faces never even left the town, old crimes continue and the memories fester. Whilst her old frenemy is keen to renew rivalries and her eyes are turned by the former geek next door, the news that Dante’s biological father will be in town and Vonny has her own romantic interest complicates outspoken Fran’s dysfunctional life even more. Just as Ash Mountain finally starts to feel like it might become a place to call home for Fran, the blistering weather forecast threatens to damage everything and jeopardise the people that mean the most of all.
As the narrative counts down the days ahead of the catastrophic fire and occasionally charts back to thirty years previously when Fran was a fifteen year old, it is intercut by first-person snapshots from the supporting cast. Knowing that something catastrophic is imminent adds urgency to the narrative and simultaneously intensifies the sense of claustrophobia. Between smirking and sniggering at some cracking turns of phrase in Helen Fitzgerald’s prose to suddenly being thrown into the life-changing disaster of a bushfire, I veered through an extreme range of emotions and felt every agonising moment of the town’s horror.
The final fifty pages of the novel are the closest I can remember to genuine heart in mouth tension and I guarantee that this is one ending that readers won’t see coming. On turning the final page the thought that the disaster is only the beginning lingers and gives the novel an incredible poignancy.
August 16, 2022
What an emotional read! The first half of this book is a little slow going and a bit all over the place as it builds the details of many different pieces of the storyline but the second half had all the feels. Deep concepts are depicted in this book, including small town gossip and secrets, a sick father, sexual abuse and more, all while a raging out of control bushfire roars toward the small town of Ash Mountain.
I did feel that because there was so much going on, it took away a little from gaining a deep connection to some characters and part of the storyline. But, even so, the last half of this book had me on the edge of my seat, fighting away tears as I rode an emotional rollercoaster. It is DEVASTATING!! The detailed cinematic way the bushfire is described broke my heart and I did not expect this book to end so sadly.
Overall, it was a horrific and utterly heartbreaking ending but the story also made me laugh and I adored the characters, their families and their quirky friendships. It was a unique, realistic and solid read.
December 10, 2022
Setting: 'Ash Mountain', Victoria, Australia.
When her father becomes seriously ill, Fran has to reluctantly return to her home town of Ash Mountain to look after him. Now in her forties, she has her daughter Vonny with her but is also reunited there with her first-born son, Dante, the product of a teenage sexual encounter with a pupil from the town's Catholic boarding school - who still lives in the sleepy town and who she refers to as The Boarder. Her return to Ash Mountain re-ignites all Fran's old prejudices and hates, particularly in respect of the Catholic convent and boarding school. But all this is put on hold when a cataclysmic bushfire strikes the town.....
This was an excellent read. Although a short book, which I read in a day, there are several different storylines together with the horrendous effect of the bushfire on the community and its residents. Told in gripping style, the story jumps back and forth from the day of the fire to several days before, counting down to the event itself, together with interludes going back thirty years to the time when Fran lived there as a teenager. Really enjoyed it - 9/10.
When her father becomes seriously ill, Fran has to reluctantly return to her home town of Ash Mountain to look after him. Now in her forties, she has her daughter Vonny with her but is also reunited there with her first-born son, Dante, the product of a teenage sexual encounter with a pupil from the town's Catholic boarding school - who still lives in the sleepy town and who she refers to as The Boarder. Her return to Ash Mountain re-ignites all Fran's old prejudices and hates, particularly in respect of the Catholic convent and boarding school. But all this is put on hold when a cataclysmic bushfire strikes the town.....
This was an excellent read. Although a short book, which I read in a day, there are several different storylines together with the horrendous effect of the bushfire on the community and its residents. Told in gripping style, the story jumps back and forth from the day of the fire to several days before, counting down to the event itself, together with interludes going back thirty years to the time when Fran lived there as a teenager. Really enjoyed it - 9/10.
August 10, 2020
Helen Fitzgerald combines one of the most devastating events in recent times with a healthy dash of humour in Ash Mountain. It seems like this combination shouldn’t work but it actually really does. Just like in her previous book, Helen Fitzgerald tackles an incredibly serious topic but she does it in such a way that it doesn’t leave you wanting to curl up into a tiny ball under your duvet, lamenting the current state of the world. Even if it at times I chuckled and immediately wondered if it was an appropriate moment to do so or not.
Fran is returning to her hometown of Ash Mountain. She thought she’d escaped this small town with its claustrophobic atmosphere and judgmental residents. But when her father has a stroke and needs care, Fran begrudgingly returns. Not only is she faced with childhood memories, there is also the taking care of her father and falling in love. All this during one of the most unbearably warm summers in Australia and devastation is just around the corner.
I’m sure many of us remember the horrible scenes from last Summer when Australia was ravaged by extremely fierce bush fires. I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like to step out of my front door and see nothing but a wall of fire and smoke but Helen Fitzgerald paints such a realistic, believable and harrowing picture that I almost felt like I was right there. Just take a look at that cover, which is an actual photo from a father taking a picture of his daughter watching the fire from their home. That photo and Helen Fitzgerald’s writing almost made me feel the heat, smell the smoke and sense just a tiny inkling of the panic that must course through people.
It’s not all doom and gloom though. Fran is one of those characters I instantly warmed to. With a high dose of humour and snark, she had no problems getting me onside from the beginning. Every character in this story came across as highly realistic and believable, which makes some of the harrowing choices and circumstances they find themselves in every harder to read about. Because you know this won’t end well. Just like it didn’t in real life. The final chapters are immensely tough and distressing, leaving me feeling breathless and as if someone had punched me in the stomach.
Ash Mountain is raw, it’s sometimes brutal but it’s also extremely honest and a terrifying portrayal of a disastrous reality. But you know, it’s witty too at times 😉. Helen Fitzgerald is one of those authors who always takes you by surprise. You never quite know what’s in store when you pick up one of her books but you do know, you’ll be in for a treat and despite the tragic topic of Ash Mountain, this one too is a treat.
Fran is returning to her hometown of Ash Mountain. She thought she’d escaped this small town with its claustrophobic atmosphere and judgmental residents. But when her father has a stroke and needs care, Fran begrudgingly returns. Not only is she faced with childhood memories, there is also the taking care of her father and falling in love. All this during one of the most unbearably warm summers in Australia and devastation is just around the corner.
I’m sure many of us remember the horrible scenes from last Summer when Australia was ravaged by extremely fierce bush fires. I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like to step out of my front door and see nothing but a wall of fire and smoke but Helen Fitzgerald paints such a realistic, believable and harrowing picture that I almost felt like I was right there. Just take a look at that cover, which is an actual photo from a father taking a picture of his daughter watching the fire from their home. That photo and Helen Fitzgerald’s writing almost made me feel the heat, smell the smoke and sense just a tiny inkling of the panic that must course through people.
It’s not all doom and gloom though. Fran is one of those characters I instantly warmed to. With a high dose of humour and snark, she had no problems getting me onside from the beginning. Every character in this story came across as highly realistic and believable, which makes some of the harrowing choices and circumstances they find themselves in every harder to read about. Because you know this won’t end well. Just like it didn’t in real life. The final chapters are immensely tough and distressing, leaving me feeling breathless and as if someone had punched me in the stomach.
Ash Mountain is raw, it’s sometimes brutal but it’s also extremely honest and a terrifying portrayal of a disastrous reality. But you know, it’s witty too at times 😉. Helen Fitzgerald is one of those authors who always takes you by surprise. You never quite know what’s in store when you pick up one of her books but you do know, you’ll be in for a treat and despite the tragic topic of Ash Mountain, this one too is a treat.
October 1, 2022
Fran is back in her hometown, where her memories are bleak, and her past is prowling. With her father newly disabled after a stroke, and an out of control wildfire headed for the town, Fran can't seem to find a leg to stand on.
Although the premise of this novel was good, filled with anxious anticipation and much curiosity around the allusions made to Frans past, the delivery was weak.
It was a quick read, got right to the point, and was (literally) tragically over before you could even absorb what you were reading. The level of writing just wasn't there, along with any proper character development. The best part of the book was honestly the excerpt in the back explaining the book cover photo.
Seeing as it's 211 pages, if you're just looking for a book to crush, you go for it. But as for getting anything out of its content, hard pass. Two star rating from me! ⭐️⭐️
Although the premise of this novel was good, filled with anxious anticipation and much curiosity around the allusions made to Frans past, the delivery was weak.
It was a quick read, got right to the point, and was (literally) tragically over before you could even absorb what you were reading. The level of writing just wasn't there, along with any proper character development. The best part of the book was honestly the excerpt in the back explaining the book cover photo.
Seeing as it's 211 pages, if you're just looking for a book to crush, you go for it. But as for getting anything out of its content, hard pass. Two star rating from me! ⭐️⭐️
March 31, 2021
Few books have ever made me cry but 'Ash Mountain' certainly did. What started out as a darkly funny story soon turns deadly serious. Single mum Fran returns to her hometown to care for her aging father. Being home brings up Fran's unhappy childhood memories. The town's hidden secrets begin to be exposed, and all the while a devastating bush fire is heading towards the drought-ridden community. This story highlights a few disturbing themes but I still highly recommend it. Thanks to Better Reading for my ARC.
June 1, 2020
To wildly misquote Forrest Gump, “Helen Fitzgerald is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get,” and it is a testament to the breadth and quality of her writing that she is undoubtedly one of the most versatile writers I have encountered. Ash Mountain only confirms this further, being a heartfelt and honest account of a fractured family and community who find themselves in a physical and emotional melting pot…
This is an intensely character driven read, set in a small outback community, and the depiction of the relationships between them and their experiences, past and present, lay at the heart of my enjoyment of this book. Fran, in particular, is a mesmeric character, returning to her hometown and seeking to re-establish the bonds and former attachments of her younger years. Fitzgerald is equally adept at shining a light on the intensity of Fran’s teenage experiences, the gaucheness and foolishness of youth. the crippling self-doubt, and then transposing this with her as an adult. There is no question that Fran’s whole life has been overshadowed by the folly of her youthful actions, which were entirely relatable, and I really liked the metamorphosis of her character when the past raises ugly its head once again. Her tiger mother instincts are strong for both her teenage daughter, despite the inevitable ups and downs, and her older son who remained in Ash Mountain, and whose conception by Fran as a teenager, becomes a focal point of the book. As she encounters ghosts of her past and the ramifications of this, and also seeks to move on romantically in the present, Fitzgerald’s portrayal of this woman is never less than rounded and completely authentic. Fran is every woman,
As the narrative is so effectively shaped by the lives of the inhabitants of this claustrophobic community, Fitzgerald has the opportunity to explore a variety of people and experiences, across age, occupation and experience. It’s like a really condensed telenovela, with all the moments of joy, humour, sadness and darkness, reaching a powerful and tense denouement as a shocking crime is exposed and avenged, and the physical threat of a raging bushfire causes death and destruction. Fitzgerald carefully builds the pace between the ramping up of personal emotions, alongside the approaching fire by splitting the narrative into different timelines, and carrying us smoothly between them. As the strands and past and present interweave, this works extremely effectively in heightening the sense of tension and danger. The scenes where the bushfire rage uncontrollably are exceptionally well realised, and Fitzgerald bombs our senses so we can literally feel the intensity and rage of it, the threat it poses, and the havoc it wreaks.
With the versatility and scope of characterisation, that Fitzgerald always seems to achieve, the underlying tensions of this small rural community with its buried shameful secrets, a fluid continuity of timelines past and present, and its dramatic depiction of a seismic natural disaster, Ash Mountain is a compelling and gripping read. Always surprising and always enjoyable Helen Fitzgerald’s books should be a definite addition to your bookshelves. Recommended.
This is an intensely character driven read, set in a small outback community, and the depiction of the relationships between them and their experiences, past and present, lay at the heart of my enjoyment of this book. Fran, in particular, is a mesmeric character, returning to her hometown and seeking to re-establish the bonds and former attachments of her younger years. Fitzgerald is equally adept at shining a light on the intensity of Fran’s teenage experiences, the gaucheness and foolishness of youth. the crippling self-doubt, and then transposing this with her as an adult. There is no question that Fran’s whole life has been overshadowed by the folly of her youthful actions, which were entirely relatable, and I really liked the metamorphosis of her character when the past raises ugly its head once again. Her tiger mother instincts are strong for both her teenage daughter, despite the inevitable ups and downs, and her older son who remained in Ash Mountain, and whose conception by Fran as a teenager, becomes a focal point of the book. As she encounters ghosts of her past and the ramifications of this, and also seeks to move on romantically in the present, Fitzgerald’s portrayal of this woman is never less than rounded and completely authentic. Fran is every woman,
As the narrative is so effectively shaped by the lives of the inhabitants of this claustrophobic community, Fitzgerald has the opportunity to explore a variety of people and experiences, across age, occupation and experience. It’s like a really condensed telenovela, with all the moments of joy, humour, sadness and darkness, reaching a powerful and tense denouement as a shocking crime is exposed and avenged, and the physical threat of a raging bushfire causes death and destruction. Fitzgerald carefully builds the pace between the ramping up of personal emotions, alongside the approaching fire by splitting the narrative into different timelines, and carrying us smoothly between them. As the strands and past and present interweave, this works extremely effectively in heightening the sense of tension and danger. The scenes where the bushfire rage uncontrollably are exceptionally well realised, and Fitzgerald bombs our senses so we can literally feel the intensity and rage of it, the threat it poses, and the havoc it wreaks.
With the versatility and scope of characterisation, that Fitzgerald always seems to achieve, the underlying tensions of this small rural community with its buried shameful secrets, a fluid continuity of timelines past and present, and its dramatic depiction of a seismic natural disaster, Ash Mountain is a compelling and gripping read. Always surprising and always enjoyable Helen Fitzgerald’s books should be a definite addition to your bookshelves. Recommended.
March 4, 2021
In recent years Helen Fitzgerald rose to greater prominence thanks to the hit TV drama The Cry, based on her emotionally devastating psychological thriller, but the Glasgow-based Aussie storyteller has been tying readers in knots for more than a decade.
After several sparkling standalones set in Europe, ranging from explorations of social media shaming to a parole worker opening a Pandora’s Box of unintended consequences when seeking justice, Fitzgerald ‘returns home’ in her superb new novel Ash Mountain. It’s a wonderful concoction of family drama, rural noir, and disaster thriller. Fran Collins reluctantly returns to Ash Mountain, a place she escaped from long ago, when life goes awry. A single mother who sees her teen daughter on weekends, Fran hates her city job, her relationship seems a goner, and her father had a stroke. As a rampaging bushfire approaches the town, old wounds are scratched open. Who will survive?
Fitzgerald smoothly shifts readers back and forth across three timelines: the Day of the Fire, Thirty Years Before the Fire, and the ten days leading up to the fire. Such a structure could easily stumble in lesser hands, but Fitzgerald nails it while building our care and fear for all the characters. Ash Mountain is dark yet funny, emotional yet not bleak. A vivid, atmospheric tale from a master storyteller, that packs an emotional wallop.
After several sparkling standalones set in Europe, ranging from explorations of social media shaming to a parole worker opening a Pandora’s Box of unintended consequences when seeking justice, Fitzgerald ‘returns home’ in her superb new novel Ash Mountain. It’s a wonderful concoction of family drama, rural noir, and disaster thriller. Fran Collins reluctantly returns to Ash Mountain, a place she escaped from long ago, when life goes awry. A single mother who sees her teen daughter on weekends, Fran hates her city job, her relationship seems a goner, and her father had a stroke. As a rampaging bushfire approaches the town, old wounds are scratched open. Who will survive?
Fitzgerald smoothly shifts readers back and forth across three timelines: the Day of the Fire, Thirty Years Before the Fire, and the ten days leading up to the fire. Such a structure could easily stumble in lesser hands, but Fitzgerald nails it while building our care and fear for all the characters. Ash Mountain is dark yet funny, emotional yet not bleak. A vivid, atmospheric tale from a master storyteller, that packs an emotional wallop.
October 26, 2020
I really had a hard time following the thread of the story at the beginning. It used a lot of Australian colloquialisms and the plot went all over the place. Then the story gets going, and if you don’t mind the flashbacks and colloquialisms, you get an interesting view of life in a backwater town in Australia. In addition the author has a great sense of dark humor. Fran, a 45 years old single woman, returns to Ash Mountain to take care of her ill father. She brings along her teenager daughter and reunites with her son, whom she had when she was fifteen.
August 23, 2020
I’m quite late to the Helen Fitzgerald party. Ash Mountain is only the third of her books, the first was The Cry which I read almost two years followed by Viral. But Ash Mountain for me was a different beast to read.
I was very intrigued where the story was going. The story jumped around different timelines quite a lot so I had to keep my reading wits about me. One chapter I’m in the midst of the town realising the fire upon them and then I’m in the week running up to the fire but with a click of an e-page, I’ve jumped back 30 years. Not only is there the timeline to watch for, the story switches character perspectives.
One thought nudged through my head throughout – was the fire that was heading directly for Ash Mountain a good (!) old fashioned bush fire or was something afoot? This town is full of secrets from the past that had remained buried for decades but were on the verge of resurfacing as Fran returns to care for her father. Having read Ash Mountain as the U.K. went through a four day heatwave, I got an idea of what the residents of the town went through each year in the height of their summer. The thought of having to deal with devastating bush fires is a terrifying prospect especially with a dependent with limited mobility.
For me, Ash Mountain was a dark thought provoking read. It’s very different from my previous experiences of Fitzgerald’s writing which is by no means a bad thing, just different. The intertwined story lines captivated my attention and concentration. When I finished, I sat slightly numb turning over in my mind the events I’d just read.
I was very intrigued where the story was going. The story jumped around different timelines quite a lot so I had to keep my reading wits about me. One chapter I’m in the midst of the town realising the fire upon them and then I’m in the week running up to the fire but with a click of an e-page, I’ve jumped back 30 years. Not only is there the timeline to watch for, the story switches character perspectives.
One thought nudged through my head throughout – was the fire that was heading directly for Ash Mountain a good (!) old fashioned bush fire or was something afoot? This town is full of secrets from the past that had remained buried for decades but were on the verge of resurfacing as Fran returns to care for her father. Having read Ash Mountain as the U.K. went through a four day heatwave, I got an idea of what the residents of the town went through each year in the height of their summer. The thought of having to deal with devastating bush fires is a terrifying prospect especially with a dependent with limited mobility.
For me, Ash Mountain was a dark thought provoking read. It’s very different from my previous experiences of Fitzgerald’s writing which is by no means a bad thing, just different. The intertwined story lines captivated my attention and concentration. When I finished, I sat slightly numb turning over in my mind the events I’d just read.
May 2, 2020
As the pace of the story gets ever more frantic, you feel the heat of the fires as if they are licking at your feet. There are some serious issues which rear their head from the past but alongside those, there is a certain black humour and excruciating moments for Fran. The action moves back and forward in time from thirty years previously to the present day. By the end, you feel that all the sins of the past are being scorched by the fire. The flames are relentless and pitiless.
As the story develops, you get to look into the lives of different inhabitants and to see what happened to Fran all those years ago when she was a teenager. You know that the fire is coming and when it arrives, the writing seems to go onto a different level. I especially loved the frantic calls going into the emergency services. Knowing of the recent bush fires in Australia and taking on board that the cover picture was taken by a father of his daughter during the fires, you feel that there is a special connection between the author and the subject. It is raw and it is real.
In short: An inferno of a novel.
Thanks to the publishers for a copy of the book.
As the story develops, you get to look into the lives of different inhabitants and to see what happened to Fran all those years ago when she was a teenager. You know that the fire is coming and when it arrives, the writing seems to go onto a different level. I especially loved the frantic calls going into the emergency services. Knowing of the recent bush fires in Australia and taking on board that the cover picture was taken by a father of his daughter during the fires, you feel that there is a special connection between the author and the subject. It is raw and it is real.
In short: An inferno of a novel.
Thanks to the publishers for a copy of the book.
September 14, 2021
This a fast paced story and perhaps the disjointed writing style suits the events but on occasion I found it a bit difficult to follow. The descriptions of intense heat were atmospheric and the characters were vividly realistic. The over exaggeration of some events created enough humour to balance to darkness in this story.
March 13, 2020
Bought this pre-publication at an Orenda Roadshow, mainly because it was set in Australia and sounded interesting.
What it turned out to be was quite terrifying, because the see-sawing of the time scale and the glimpses into different lives of several of Ash Mountain's inhabitants added to the sense of fragility and imbalance. Made it real, but at the same time underlined how randomly lives are lived. And how teetering the likelihood they might end too soon.
What it turned out to be was quite terrifying, because the see-sawing of the time scale and the glimpses into different lives of several of Ash Mountain's inhabitants added to the sense of fragility and imbalance. Made it real, but at the same time underlined how randomly lives are lived. And how teetering the likelihood they might end too soon.
May 27, 2020
Rep: lesbian characters, Indigenous Australian characters
CWs: past sexual abuse, mentions of past suicide, implied dubiously consensual sex, death in bushfire, homophobia
CWs: past sexual abuse, mentions of past suicide, implied dubiously consensual sex, death in bushfire, homophobia
May 17, 2025
Funny until it’s not. So very Australian.
“Stuff happens. Things get interrupted.
What are we supposed to do now?
Have a cry, then make new plans”
“Stuff happens. Things get interrupted.
What are we supposed to do now?
Have a cry, then make new plans”
June 13, 2021
The first half of this book was slow going, it jumped around and introduced a lot of different characters and I was pushing through without enjoying it. The last half pulled it all together and pulled me right in. Worth it for the last half.
August 7, 2024
ASH MOUNTAIN by Helen Fitzgerald does a great job in weaving together several seemingly disparate stories: A woman forced to confront her past after returning to her hometown to care for her father. A small town of people who will band together to help one another but complicit in keeping town secrets. A town facing the threat of bushfire; a far too often occurrence in Australia today.
This book took me on an emotional rollercoaster ride. I laughed. I got angry. I felt hope. I felt fear and devastation. The story is often written so subtlety; every sentence counts.
Fitzgerald does an excellent job in portraying the thoughts of not only her characters, but the reactions of the land to the current climate and the fire that is coming its way.
The characters are often quirky, offbeat and outlandish, but they are rooted in reality.
I have read several books where a bushfire forms part of the story but none have stayed with me like I know this book will. The experiences of escape and survival are harrowing.
ASH MOUNTAIN is the first of the author’s books I have read. I will certainly be reading more of her work.
This book took me on an emotional rollercoaster ride. I laughed. I got angry. I felt hope. I felt fear and devastation. The story is often written so subtlety; every sentence counts.
Fitzgerald does an excellent job in portraying the thoughts of not only her characters, but the reactions of the land to the current climate and the fire that is coming its way.
The characters are often quirky, offbeat and outlandish, but they are rooted in reality.
I have read several books where a bushfire forms part of the story but none have stayed with me like I know this book will. The experiences of escape and survival are harrowing.
ASH MOUNTAIN is the first of the author’s books I have read. I will certainly be reading more of her work.
May 27, 2020
Fran thought she escaped her hometown of Ash Mountain years ago. After her father finds himself ill, she is forced to return to the place she hates and care for him. Fran’s relationship is over and she hates her dead end job in the city, so the move is easy. What isn’t easy is caring for her dying father or working on a relationship with her teenage daughter. Despite all of the emotional turmoil that Ash Mountain has put her through, Fran finds herself falling in love with this town and a new man. Under the surface of what might be a new beginning is a series of old crimes and an impending brushfire that threaten to take away everything Fran holds dear.
Helen Fitzgerald drops the reader and Fran straight into a raging brushfire with the opening of ASH MOUNTAIN and then pulls us back in time to the days leading up to this moment. What the reader finds after this is a story alternating between timelines and narratives, which bring this quaint town to life.
Francesca “Fran” Collins is the main character at the heart of ASH MOUNTAIN. It is through Fran that we learn not only about her life, but about the town as well. We learn the struggles she found herself in as a teen mother and what has become of her life in the thirty years since then. As the timeline shifts to moments from Fran’s youth, the story takes on a bit of a coming-of-age vibe that truly solidifies the reader's bond with Fran. She’s a strong, witty, take no shit kind of character that you can’t help but fall in love with. Surrounding Fran are her children, her father, and a handful of interesting Ash Mountain residents. Fitzgerald wisely gives several of these secondary characters the chance to narrate a small selection of chapters to create a full portrait of Ash Mountain and Fran’s life. I loved getting to see Fran interact with all of these people and her amazing personality shine through in these moments.
While the story is building to the brushfire in present day, Fitzgerald guides the reader and Fran to the realization of a deep secret Ash Mountain has kept secret for several decades. The crimes that Fran unearths may not be the focus of the book, but they are an integral storyline for Fran to fully understand herself and her hometown. I loved trying to track down the truth and the devastating revelation. This part of the story gave the book an overall sense of old school noir and made it more than just a glimpse into someone’s life.
It’s hard to characterize ASH MOUNTAIN into one genre because Helen Fitzgerald has created something that transcends genres. This book is a little bit mystery, a dash of thriller, and a heaping scoop of literary fiction mixed together to create something that every reader can appreciate. This is my first book by Fitzgerald, but it won’t be my last!
A huge thank you to Orenda Books for my free copy!
Helen Fitzgerald drops the reader and Fran straight into a raging brushfire with the opening of ASH MOUNTAIN and then pulls us back in time to the days leading up to this moment. What the reader finds after this is a story alternating between timelines and narratives, which bring this quaint town to life.
Francesca “Fran” Collins is the main character at the heart of ASH MOUNTAIN. It is through Fran that we learn not only about her life, but about the town as well. We learn the struggles she found herself in as a teen mother and what has become of her life in the thirty years since then. As the timeline shifts to moments from Fran’s youth, the story takes on a bit of a coming-of-age vibe that truly solidifies the reader's bond with Fran. She’s a strong, witty, take no shit kind of character that you can’t help but fall in love with. Surrounding Fran are her children, her father, and a handful of interesting Ash Mountain residents. Fitzgerald wisely gives several of these secondary characters the chance to narrate a small selection of chapters to create a full portrait of Ash Mountain and Fran’s life. I loved getting to see Fran interact with all of these people and her amazing personality shine through in these moments.
While the story is building to the brushfire in present day, Fitzgerald guides the reader and Fran to the realization of a deep secret Ash Mountain has kept secret for several decades. The crimes that Fran unearths may not be the focus of the book, but they are an integral storyline for Fran to fully understand herself and her hometown. I loved trying to track down the truth and the devastating revelation. This part of the story gave the book an overall sense of old school noir and made it more than just a glimpse into someone’s life.
It’s hard to characterize ASH MOUNTAIN into one genre because Helen Fitzgerald has created something that transcends genres. This book is a little bit mystery, a dash of thriller, and a heaping scoop of literary fiction mixed together to create something that every reader can appreciate. This is my first book by Fitzgerald, but it won’t be my last!
A huge thank you to Orenda Books for my free copy!
May 18, 2020
Helen Fitzgerald is an author who cannot be categorized. In Ash Mountain, just as in her previous book, Worst Case Scenario, she brings us a story that is populated by the most hideously real characters, and a plot that races along at a pace that can be both meandering, yet exhilarating at times.
Ash Mountain is an apt title for this story; it is not only the name of the small Australian town where the action takes place, it is also a perfect description of how the effects of discoveries made and memories realised can reduce people, and a place to, metaphorically speaking, a pile of dust.
Lead character Fran is in her forties; a single mother of two. She's returned to Ash Mountain, the town where she grew up, to nurse her father. Fran's personal history is colourful and complicated. Her first child; Dante, was born when she was just fifteen, and still living at home with her widowed father. Her teenage daughter Vonny is a the result of her most recent relationship, with Vincent. Whilst she and Vincent remain friends, he's now moved on to a newer model and they share parenting of Vonny.
The story begins and ends on the day that Ash Mountain is consumed by the raging bush fires that have devastated large swathes of Australia. The opening scenes have a sense of despair and destruction that is hard to shake, even as this talented author takes her readers back through Fran's earlier life. We learn about three specific eras of Fran's life; thirty years ago when she was the same age as her daughter Vonny is now, moving to just a few days before the fire, and then to that awful day as the skies turn black, and then red and the heat and flames consume everything in its path.
Fran is a complex character; often sharp-tongued, with a humour that is as dark as night. As her story unfolds, the reader begins to realise that Ash Mountain is not just her home town, it is a place that has formed her future life. There are passages of discovery that are breathtaking, that will reduce even the hardest reader to tears, and are so beautifully depicted, yet starkly told. The writing is genius.
A story that encapsulates the realisms of small-town life, of how memories can be repressed and secrets known, yet hidden. There's new love, there's the rediscovery of old attraction.
As the fire gets closer, the author does not hide anything from the reader. The pure horror and utter destruction is described in such detail, creating horrific images that almost sear into the brain. I found some of the final scenes very difficult to shake off.
Tense, absorbing and very very clever. The characters and the town are brilliantly drawn. This is a compulsive yet moving story that I found very difficult to put down and will remember for a very long time.
Ash Mountain is an apt title for this story; it is not only the name of the small Australian town where the action takes place, it is also a perfect description of how the effects of discoveries made and memories realised can reduce people, and a place to, metaphorically speaking, a pile of dust.
Lead character Fran is in her forties; a single mother of two. She's returned to Ash Mountain, the town where she grew up, to nurse her father. Fran's personal history is colourful and complicated. Her first child; Dante, was born when she was just fifteen, and still living at home with her widowed father. Her teenage daughter Vonny is a the result of her most recent relationship, with Vincent. Whilst she and Vincent remain friends, he's now moved on to a newer model and they share parenting of Vonny.
The story begins and ends on the day that Ash Mountain is consumed by the raging bush fires that have devastated large swathes of Australia. The opening scenes have a sense of despair and destruction that is hard to shake, even as this talented author takes her readers back through Fran's earlier life. We learn about three specific eras of Fran's life; thirty years ago when she was the same age as her daughter Vonny is now, moving to just a few days before the fire, and then to that awful day as the skies turn black, and then red and the heat and flames consume everything in its path.
Fran is a complex character; often sharp-tongued, with a humour that is as dark as night. As her story unfolds, the reader begins to realise that Ash Mountain is not just her home town, it is a place that has formed her future life. There are passages of discovery that are breathtaking, that will reduce even the hardest reader to tears, and are so beautifully depicted, yet starkly told. The writing is genius.
A story that encapsulates the realisms of small-town life, of how memories can be repressed and secrets known, yet hidden. There's new love, there's the rediscovery of old attraction.
As the fire gets closer, the author does not hide anything from the reader. The pure horror and utter destruction is described in such detail, creating horrific images that almost sear into the brain. I found some of the final scenes very difficult to shake off.
Tense, absorbing and very very clever. The characters and the town are brilliantly drawn. This is a compulsive yet moving story that I found very difficult to put down and will remember for a very long time.
May 12, 2020
The opening chapter pulls you into the action immediately with a fire spreading through the town and the main protagonist searching for someone. From there the plot rewinds by ten days to take the reader through the days before the event. Already there is a sense of panic about the novel. Almost like an impending feeling that you, the reader, have seen into the future and know what will happen but can have no effect on the outcome at all. This method of story telling ensured that I wouldn't put the book down until I knew what had happened to the main characters.
Fran is the main protagonist and after being away from her town, she has moved back in with her father to care for him. Her son Dante still lives there and her daughter Vonny spends her time between Fran and her father Vincent. In the beginning, Fran is a prickly character and it's very obvious she has a hatred for the place she grew up. The more you learn about her the more attached I became to her and saw her as a fighter and a strong woman but someone in need of closure on several things.
The chapters told in the present paint a picture of small-town life. It took me a while to get used to a novel set in Australia rather than England or America but Helen's vivid descriptions did a great job to make this easier than it could have been. We watch Fran face her past and adapt to her knew life with some moments of humour. I particularly loved Gramps on a stick. Chapters told from the past are more sombre and a harsh tale of what Fran has experienced. They tell of love, youth and heartache.
While Fran is reconciling with her past and dealing with these emotions the reader is right there with her. Through the moments of dark humour and pain and the experience is only intensified by the fact that we know what is yet to come.
This novel has such a character driven plot and is completely unique in it's writing style and storytelling. It's such a emotional roller coaster of a ride but it's one worth taking.
Highly recommended.
Fran is the main protagonist and after being away from her town, she has moved back in with her father to care for him. Her son Dante still lives there and her daughter Vonny spends her time between Fran and her father Vincent. In the beginning, Fran is a prickly character and it's very obvious she has a hatred for the place she grew up. The more you learn about her the more attached I became to her and saw her as a fighter and a strong woman but someone in need of closure on several things.
The chapters told in the present paint a picture of small-town life. It took me a while to get used to a novel set in Australia rather than England or America but Helen's vivid descriptions did a great job to make this easier than it could have been. We watch Fran face her past and adapt to her knew life with some moments of humour. I particularly loved Gramps on a stick. Chapters told from the past are more sombre and a harsh tale of what Fran has experienced. They tell of love, youth and heartache.
While Fran is reconciling with her past and dealing with these emotions the reader is right there with her. Through the moments of dark humour and pain and the experience is only intensified by the fact that we know what is yet to come.
This novel has such a character driven plot and is completely unique in it's writing style and storytelling. It's such a emotional roller coaster of a ride but it's one worth taking.
Highly recommended.
August 18, 2020
I’ve been a huge fan of Helen Fitzgerald’s writing for many years now and enjoy her dark and often shocking observations of human nature in all it’s disturbing forms. I wasn’t sure she could match the genius of the multiple award winning Worst Case Scenario but Ash Mountain has once again proved that having the right publisher (the wonderful Karen Sullivan at Orenda Books) has led Helen Fitzgerald to produce some of her best work to date. Ash Mountain is a very clever concept-in fact it’s so clever that you don’t even realise how clever it is until you reach the very end! Ash Mountain is one of those books that I wanted to go back and read again the minute I finished it-yep, it’s THAT good!
It’s tough returning to your hometown when you’ve moved away-it’s very easy to turn into a petulant teenager again when living back with your parents! Fran has had to return to look after her sick father taking with her her two children. As if this isn’t tough enough to cope with, being home is stirring up memories of her childhood. The small Australian town is brought vibrantly to life as Fran encounters its inhabitants who also evoke memories of the past. As the unbearable summer heat builds to an oppressive weight on the towns people, old secrets start to squirm out and a bush fire could end burgeoning romances before they have taken root…
On one hand this is a disaster drama that builds to a a terrifying crescendo but on the other it’s an exquisitely delivered insight into life in a small town where there are no secrets except those that are too big for everyone to comprehend. It’s dark humour cuts through the disturbing content so that you don’t know whether to laugh or cry at some of the shocking circumstances that take place. And that’s what I love about Helen Fitzgerald-she isn’t afraid addressing the elephant in the room. Just because we find things uncomfortable doesn’t mean we should sweep them under the proverbial carpet. Yes there are some unpleasant themes discussed here but LIFE can be unpleasant and unpredictable so why not!?
You can probably tell I feel very strongly about this book and can’t recommend it highly enough. Stunningly brilliant from start to finish!
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