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The title Above the Fire is both literal and metaphorical. Doug and his young son, Tim, become stranded while hiking in the White Mountains when threats of war and social collapse reach the ranger station. They decide to stay where they are, "above" the disorder down below.
But the precise nature of that disorder is hard to get their hands around because Doug and Tim are miles from it. They cannot see it. Only vague snatches of information from rangers and news reports reach them before their isolation grows complete. At one point they do get word of a conflagration in a nearby town: an event that frightens the boy. But, despite this literal image, "the fire" broadly represents the uncertainty and danger that Doug and Tim avoid by staying high in the mountains.
What's in a name?
The setting of the novel is...[read on]
Q&A with Michael O'Donnell.
--Marshal Zeringue
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