Erika Jantzen

No Ordinary Fire 

 

https://tinyurl.com/NoOrdinaryFire

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 No Ordinary Fire is Erika Jantzen's debut novel. It follows a young woman named Marianne who is weighed-down by a history of abuse and self-destructive behavior as she seeks -- and ultimately finds -- a way forward.

 

Set in Atlanta, Georgia and in the mountains of North Carolina, No Ordinary Fire opens with the flare-up violence that persuades Marianne

to end her third marraige -- another in a string of punishing relationships, this time to an alcoholic. Haunted by memories of an abusive father and a mother who died under mysterious circumstances, Marianne has been finding temporary escape through drugs, sex, wry humor, and the bad-boys she unfailingly attracts. But even yoga, therapy, and meditation have provided scant relief from her recurring nightmares.

 

When a friend offers Marianne the use of an isolated mountain cabin, she grasps it as a chance for real change. Another friend guides her to a Lakota shaman, and, desperate to deal with her demons, Marianne agrees to a sweat-lodge ceremony, and then goes into the wilderness on a Vision Quest. Protected by only a blazing fire, she must come to terms with her childhood, face the truth about her mother, and find the courage to destroy the creature that haunts her on the mountaintop. Will she survive?

 

Poignant, inspiring, and powerful No Ordinary Fire is one woman's courageous walk through the fire, and over shards of sex, violence, and profanity, to an appointment with her authentic self.