BOL Review: How to Start a Fire by Lisa Lutz

Telling the story of three women and their two-decade friendship, Lutz ventures away from her snarky Spellman Files series and ends up firmly in women’s-fiction territory. Outrageous Anna, contemplative Kate, and sporty Georgina (George) meet cute in college when roommates Anna and Kate come upon a very drunk George passed out on a frat-house lawn. The dissimilar women quickly become friends, and the book unfolds as a series of flashbacks from 1993 to 2014. Anna, once a doctor, ends up as a secretary after her substance-abuse problems cause her to lose her medical license. Kate becomes a drifter, unable to shake the fact that she killed a man (who was attacking George); and George moves from husband to husband, each time morphing into someone else’s vision of a perfect wife and mother. The characters are marvelous...Read the full review at Booklist Online!